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PROGRESS 



ANNIVERSARY VOLUME OF THE 
CAMPBELL INSTITUTE 



PROGRESS 

Anniversary Volume of the Campbell Institute 

on the Completion of Twenty Years 

of History 



EDITED BY 

HERBERT L. WILLETT, ORVIS F. JORDAN 
AND CHARLES M. SHARPE 



1917 

PUBLISHED FOR THE CAMPBELL INSTITUTE BY 

THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY PRESS 
CHICAGO 



**y 



Copyright, 1917, By 
The Campbell Institute 



AUG 13 1917 
©GI.A470655 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Introduction. Herbert L. Willett 9 

History of the Campbell Institute. Edward 

Scribner Ames 35 

The Campbell Institute: Questions and Answers. 

Ellsworth Faris 44 

The Disciples of Christ. The Editors .... 53 
Impressions of Twenty Years. Edward L. Powell 68 
The Idea of Doctrinal Progress. Chas. M. 

Sharpe 78 

Newer Phases of Christian Union. James M. 

Philputt Ill 

Tendencies in City Religion. Orvis F. Jordan . 125 
The Church and Her Allies. Allan B. Philputt 146 
Social Solicitude and Political Reform. Perry 

J. Rice 156 

Evangelical Implications of the Social Task of 

the Church. H. D. C. Maclachlan .... 175 
Mysticism and Knowledge of God. Herbert 

Martin 190 

Roman Catholic Modernism. Errett Gates . . 205 
Progressive Protestantism. Burris A. Jenkins . 220 
Two Decades of Missionary History. Frederick 

E. Lumley 235 

The History of Preaching for Twenty Years. 

John Ray Ewers 252 

v 



vi CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Religious Value of Science. Arthur Holmes 267 
Recent Tendencies in Philosophy That Are 

Significant for Religion. Willis A. Parker 292 
Religious Values of the Fine Arts. Walter D. 

MacClintock 309 

Poem. Vachel Lindsay 327 



PROGRESS 



PROGRESS 



INTRODUCTION 

'T^HIS volume is a collection of papers pre- 
-*- pared by members of the Campbell Insti- 
tute as contributions to an anniversary publica- 
tion, marking the completion of twenty years of 
history. It is in no sense a formal presentation 
of the opinions held by the Institute as a body. It 
was impossible that a volume of the sort should 
include papers from more than a few of the mem- 
bers. Those who were asked to write were not 
chosen as better fitted than their colleagues to 
contribute to such a volume, nor as representa- 
tives of the views of the membership as a whole. 
Circumstances made it more convenient for these 
particular men to respond to the invitation to 
write, and their essays are merely the expression 
of individual opinion on a few of the many 
themes on which thoughtful people have vital 
convictions in our day. 

The purpose of the volume is not to set forth a 
body of opinions, but to celebrate an event. It 
is twenty years since the Campbell Institute was 
organized. In that period its membership has in- 

[9] 



10 PROGRESS 

creased from a small group to a company of more 
than two hundred. These men are found in the 
ministry, the teaching vocation, on the mission 
field, and in other important types of Christian 
activity. They have had sufficient collegiate and 
university experience to be deeply interested in 
the changing aspects of intellectual, social and 
religious ministries in our time. The comments 
of such men upon matters to which they have 
given some special consideration cannot fail to 
prove of interest to their associates in the Insti- 
tute, and form a worthful contribution to the 
anniversary it has been thought proper to cele- 
brate. It will be understood therefore that no 
attempt has been made either by the editors or the 
contributors to formulate a body of opinion rep- 
resentative of the Campbell Institute as a whole, 
nor does any member of the Institute, save the 
individual writers, assume responsibility for the 
utterances in this collection. The members who 
have here spoken register only their appreciation 
of the body and the service it has been able to ren- 
der them, and their personal convictions on the 
subjects they have chosen. 

The twenty years covered by the organized life 
of the Campbell Institute include both the most 
stimulating period in the story of the modern 
church, and the most eventful epoch in the history 



INTRODUCTION 11 

of the Disciples of Christ. Whatever be one's 
reaction to the movements in the institutional, in- 
dustrial, educational, social and religious world 
during these years, he knows that they have been 
rapid and far-reaching. Whether, with the 
writers of this book, one is convinced that these 
changes spell Progress, or whether he takes a 
(more negative and pessimistic attitude, the 
modification that has come over the social order 
of our age is profound and significant. The 
causes that underlie these changes are to be 
found in the earlier portion of the half century 
now closing, but their manifestation has been 
most evident in the briefer period of which we are 
thinking. 

PROGRESS IN SCIENCES AND CRITICISM 

In the field of the physical sciences the modifi- 
cations of accepted views have been very great. 
The investigations of leaders in the biological and 
geological departments of scientific inquiry went 
far to displace former opinions regarding the 
static character of the physical universe, and to 
render necessary a new interpretation of the 
phenomena of nature and living creatures. This 
discovery that life in all its phases is ever chang- 
ing, and that it is possible to trace these modifica- 
tions in terms of recognized laws and through the 



12 PROGRESS 

operation of resident forces, issued in the prin- 
ciple of evolution. This came to be accepted in 
widening circles as the most satisfactory explana- 
tion of the classified facts of the physical universe. 
At first it appeared to set itself in marked con- 
trast with the familiar teachings of the older sci- 
ence and theology. Later and more thorough 
studies in this field have removed these first appre- 
hensions, and today the principle of evolution, 
much more fully understood than at first, and 
much more fully developed as an interpretation 
of life, is as familiar and commonplace in the 
working explanation of the natural order as grav- 
itation or electrical science. 

The earlier years of this half century were the 
times in which the principle of evolution was 
passing through its testing experience. Every- 
where it was subjected to searching criticism, both 
as to its ability to meet the issue of fact, and as to 
its implications in the domain of religion. Dur- 
ing those years the field of its employment was 
greatly widened and its definitions were greatly 
broadened and enriched. The earlier affirmations 
made in interpretation of the method are now 
perceived to have been much too limited to meet 
the requirements of science. But the principle 
has proved itself the most acceptable way of ac- 
counting for the aggregate of physical facts at 



INTRODUCTION 13 

the disposal of scientists, and in the world of 
skilled workers in this great branch of natural 
phenomena it is the unchallenged method of pro- 
cedure. The past twenty years have witnessed 
the gradual and confident appropriation of this 
principle on the part of Christian scholars. They 
have found in it a rational and satisfactory ex- 
planation of the work of God in the universe, and 
an impressive commentary on the teachings of 
the Bible. The alarm once felt in religious 
circles at the growing prevalence of the idea of 
evolution has now given way to a grateful recog- 
nition of the harmony between the self -revelation 
of God in a growing universe and the disclosure 
of his ideals in the Holy Scriptures. 

The application of the scientific principle in 
the natural world led also to its recognition in 
the field of history and literature. The new sci- 
ences of archaeology, textual criticism, historical 
and literary criticism and comparative religion 
came into being. The earlier years of the half 
century were times of stress and storm in the re- 
ligious world. The application of the principles 
of criticism which had yielded such valuable 
results in classical studies was viewed with very 
grave apprehension by those who felt that the 
Bible required no such handling, and that it was 
sure to lose something of its sacredness and 



14 PROGRESS 

authority in the process. But the work was inevi- 
table. No book as conspicuous and worthful as 
the Bible could escape those inquiries which were 
bringing valuable results in all other fields of 
literary study. The outcome has been of the 
utmost importance to the students of the Bible 
and the Christian religion. An increasingly sat- 
isfactory text of the Scriptures has become avail- 
able. The dates and literary character of the 
sources for the study of Hebrew and early Chris- 
tian history are much more fully understood than 
ever before. In the progress of these studies 
many superficial and untrustworthy Jewish and 
patristic traditions have been discarded. Fantas- 
tic opinions regarding the nature of inspiration, 
the character of biblical prophecy, the importance 
of symbolism and typology have vanished into 
the limbo of useless things. The Bible as a 
result of these critical studies is not less divine 
but more human. It is seen to be less a super- 
naturally perfect record of history and science 
than a faithful and inspiring account of the most 
impressive movement of the divine activity in the 
world, written by men who were moved by the 
Spirit of God. Men who really wish to under- 
stand and appropriate the message of the Bible 
have ceased to search its pages for predictions of 
the electric light, the automobile, and the Kaiser's 

l 



INTRODUCTION 15 

performances in the great war, and are attempt- 
ing to learn from the teachings of the prophets, 
the apostles and our Lord the direction God is 
taking in human affairs, that they may give 
themselves with unrestrained enthusiasm to the 
divine purpose. Today intelligent students of 
the Bible are no longer disquieted by the results 
achieved by the critical process in Bible study. 
Those results are familiar and accepted along the 
whole frontier of Christian scholarship. They 
are the basis of the vast ministry of modern 
Christian preaching and religious education. If 
anywhere they have had slight recognition as yet 
it is in the camps of the theologies of despair, — 
Romanism, Verbalism and Millenarianism. 

THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 

Another of the sciences which has taken form 
in the period under review, and has come to 
notable expression during the past twenty years, 
is psychology, and the closely related discipline, 
the psychology of religion. Very formal and 
remote do those earlier treatises on mental science 
and the human intellect now seem. The accumu- 
lation of facts from personal experience and in 
the laboratories of the physiological psychologists 
has put a foundation under a structure which was 
at best theoretical and vague. Some of the 



16 PROGRESS 

results of this new discipline are perceived in the 
region of child-study, which is revolutionizing 
educational procedure ; the recognition of clearly 
diseernable areas of advancing interest on the 
part of children, which has made possible fruit- 
ful studies in the psychology of conversion; and 
the interesting investigations into the religious 
customs and habits of different races, and even 
of various religious groups, which throw light 
upon their characteristic beliefs and practices, 
and make possible such a science as the psy- 
chology of religion. 

But perhaps the most outstanding change in 
the religious world during the past half century, 
a change which has come to its fullest manifesta- 
tion during the twenty years now closing, is the 
arousal of a social solicitude hitherto unknown. 
The emphasis placed upon social redemption in 
our times is perhaps the most noteworthy of all 
the phases of religious concern. The Christian 
world has become conscious of the duty of neigh- 
borliness, even as the church of the middle ages 
magnified the privilege and duty of personal 
salvation. The amount of space given to this 
general theme in the papers gathered in this 
volume is in some sense an indication of the para- 
mount importance of the subject. Indeed there 
are alarmed spirits in the church who believe that 



INTRODUCTION 17 

something called social service is being substituted 
for religion in many parts of the church today. 
And it need not be questioned that many gallant 
and spirited seekers after the noblest things are 
satisfying themselves with some sort of social 
philanthropy which leaves them still unprovided 
with the deeper and richer experiences of the 
religious life. But no dangers of this nature 
can turn away the attention of the awakened 
church from its high and holy obligation to 
realize the kingdom of God as a society pervaded 
by purity and good will. Here are found the 
motives to all redemptive effort in behalf of 
the infirm, the delinquent, the defective and the 
disfranchised members of the social order. Here 
likewise is the ground of the impulse to reach the 
non- Christian world not only with the gospel of 
Christ, but with a civilization which is its fruit 
in our western world. And in the end of the day 
there must be found in this sense of a society of 
men and women of good will the promise and 
guarantee of a world peace incapable of rupture 
by the self-interests of any form of nationalism. 

THE COURAGE OF THE FATHERS 

Looking back across this period of twenty 
years, with these and other notable changes in 
the thought and feeling of the church, and into 



18 PROGRESS 

the thirty years preceding, which furnished the 
soil into which the roots of these movements 
struck, it is not difficult to understand what spaces 
divide the men of today from the times in which 
the fathers of this great religious movement 
undertook their pioneering work. If it is difficult 
for us to forecast a decade of Christian progress, 
how great was their courage in attempting to 
formulate a program for the reform which they 
regarded as most vital in their time, and which we 
after a full century and more still find the most 
outstanding enterprise in the list of things which 
the church must achieve. Men of insight and of 
action were they, who asked only to be used of 
God in the preparation of the church for her high 
destiny. Happy shall we be if in the new time 
of opportunity we shall prove worthy sons. 

In their times not one of these modern move- 
ments in the thinking of Christian people had 
taken form. In only one field, that of biblical 
study, were there the remotest hints of the 
revolutionary changes soon to come. And inter- 
estingly enough, in this one regard the fathers of 
this effort to realize a united church seized eagerly 
upon the methods and results of biblical scholar- 
ship, and dared the suspicions of the orthodox 
world in behalf of the first glimmerings of the 
new science. If they could not anticipate the ideas 



INTRODUCTION 19 

of a later age, they were at least the protagonists 
of astonishingly revolutionary efforts in their 
attacks upon the entrenched sectarianisms of 
their age. No student of the religious history 
of that time, much less one in whose veins there 
runs the blood of the Disciples of Christ, can fail 
to be thrilled with the audacity and uncalculating 
heroism of the men who set themselves the 
gigantic task of impressing upon the divided 
church of their age the sanctions and opportuni- 
ties of Christian unity. 

If they did not foresee all the obstacles which 
stood in the path of this realization, it is not to be 
wondered at. They had no supernormal pre- 
science by which they could discern the hidden 
barriers before them. The sin and disaster of 
disunion were so apparent and convincing to them 
that they could not doubt that when once the 
churches had the theme called to their attention, 
they could not do otherwise than respond. There 
is a naive and confident hope in the words of the 
"Declaration and Address" which no careful 
reader can miss. These men actually believed 
that the plea which seemed so majestic, not as 
from their lips, but from the oracles of God, must 
be heard and heeded. How many disillusion- 
ments they suffered, and to how many changes of 
position did they have to adjust themselves in 



20 PROGRESS 

those pregnant years of our early history ! They 
saw many of their dreams vanish, and yet they 
did not lose their faith. In various features of 
their early program they found themselves dis- 
appointed. They were even compelled to change 
to some extent their plans for the great reform 
they had at heart. Yet they never abandoned 
their confidence in the timeliness and urgency of 
their cause, and the certainty of its ultimate suc- 
cess. It is the story of these first experiences, the 
high vision of the supreme need of unity in the 
church, the confident and spirited efforts to 
promote this cause, the surprised and pained 
recognition of unforeseen hindrances to the reali- 
zation of this ideal, the gradual adjustment of 
methods to meet these conditions, and the una- 
bated enthusiasm with which the great adventure 
was pursued, — it is this story which constitutes 
one of the most engaging and informing chapters 
in the history of American Christianity. 

DISAPPOINTMENTS AND ADJUSTMENTS 

The fathers of this movement believed that 
when once the churches living in sectarian dis- 
union heard the urgent plea which they made in 
behalf of Christian unity, backed by the familiar 
words of the Savior and the apostolic injunctions 
to oneness of spirit, there could be no hesitation, 



INTRODUCTION 21 

but all would respond in' recognition of the need 
and opportunity. In this they were disappointed. 
They had not sufficiently reckoned with the 
strength of denominational attachment and the 
reverence for denominational history. The fact 
that they were themselves giving up the cherished 
associations of a lifetime for the sake of the new 
idea proved their disinterested devotion to the 
cause. But it did not make the expected appeal 
to their religious neighbors. 

When they encountered the surprising indif- 
ference of their brethren in the various churches 
in regard to this impressive plan of theirs, they 
attempted to vindicate their plea and to offer a 
basis for fellowship by urging that the Bible 
alone, and not the conflicting creeds of the cen- 
turies, should be the ground of union. But it was 
soon evident that the Bible as a whole was too 
indefinite and too inclusive a document, covering 
as it did the imperfect ethics and behavior of the 
Hebrew race. Very soon, therefore, the New 
Testament was made the source of authority, and 
the clear discrimination between the two portions 
of the Scriptures was made clear in the "Sermon 
on the Law," and other utterances of the group. 
A long series of articles on the "Restoration of 
the Ancient Order" appeared in the Christian 
Baptist, in which it was affirmed with confidence 



22 PROGRESS 

that exact conformity to the teachings of the 
New Testament would bring the desired results. 
But in assuming this position too little account 
was taken of the fact that the New Testament 
has been the classic authority of all sections of 
the church from the beginning; and that the inevi- 
table variations of interpretation resulting from 
group experiences and psychology make impos- 
sible a unified view of New Testament doctrine. 
In the discovery of this fact there was a fresh 
source of disappointment and disillusionment. 
As a matter of fact, in the development of the 
movement the fathers and their immediate succes- 
sors did not actually hold to their first declaration 
that the entire New Testament was to be made 
the standard of appeal. Rather they placed their 
later emphasis upon a limited number of primi- 
tive Christian teachings and practices, because in 
the experience of the years these were seen to 
have practical value in the furtherance of the 
cause. This was a curve of events not anticipated 
at the first. But it reveals the wisdom and tact- 
fulness of the men who were devoted to a great 
ideal, and were willing to let no personal bias of 
opinion stand in the way of its realization. More- 
over it illustrates their practical acceptance of 
the principle of progress long before its fuller 
recognition in religious history. 



INTRODUCTION 23 

In another important item the fathers were 
compelled to vary their first plans. At the begin- 
ning of the movement they were confronted with 
the relatively simple task of uniting the scattered 
groups of Protestants, most of whom belonged 
to the Presbyterian order. These early reform- 
ers included people from other denominations, 
but essentially they all belonged to churches 
of similar forms of government. At that 
time there was little consideration given to 
the wider implications of unity. If the Roman 
Catholics or the members of the state churches 
were contemplated in the ultimate aggregate of 
the united church, it was rather on the basis of the 
abandonment of those confessions and acceptance 
of the proposed form of union. That form was 
the familiar synodical organization of Presby- 
terianism. There can be little doubt that Thomas 
Campbell hoped this plan would be sufficiently 
elastic to meet the needs of the new enterprise. 
Further study of religious conditions, however, 
compelled the abandonment of this hope. By 
the time the movement got under way, the solu- 
tion was sought in a supposed plan of church 
organization presented in the New Testament, 
and sufficient for all practical purposes. The 
fact that neither the Savior nor the apostles had 
any fixed norm of church organization, and the 



24 PROGRESS 

significant appeal of every type of church admin- 
istration to the New Testament as if it were a 
source-book upon the subject, did not at the time 
disturb these earnest seekers after a way of peace. 
In the failure of their first arrangements, they 
followed the pragmatic course, and adjusted 
themselves with sagacity to the new situation. 

BAPTISM AND COMMUNION 

In another important feature the fathers met 
an unexpected disappointment. They were con- 
fident that disunion was the most glaring defect 
in the church of their day. Unity of teaching 
and procedure was therefore clearly the duty and 
privilege of the hour. They did not doubt that 
their religious friends and neighbors would rec- 
ognize this fact, and join in the effort to meet 
the need. The most conspicuous Christian rite 
was baptism. But confusion had fallen upon 
Christian practice in this matter. Several forms 
of administration were practiced. This seemed 
to the fathers unfortunate and distracting. After 
careful study of the question they decided that 
immersion was the primitive Christian practice, 
and the one all but universally recognized as valid. 
Who could doubt that if this matter were called 
to the attention of the Christian world it would 
be a simple task to persuade all who employed 



INTRODUCTION 25 

other forms than immersion in the celebration of 
Christian baptism to abandon their usage in the 
interest of unity? One must not forget that the 
fathers paid a somewhat heavy price in the effort 
to reach this ground. They were at first entirely 
satisfied with the practice of affusion. It was the 
necessity of following their principle of loyalty 
to the Scriptures which compelled them to re- 
study the entire question. This convinced them 
that immersion was both apostolic and catholic. 
They accepted it with confidence that it would 
prove irenic and acceptable to all. In this they 
were disappointed. They lived to see a practice 
which they had adopted not only upon Scriptural 
but fraternal grounds, made the theme of endless 
controversy and antagonism. It is difficult for 
Disciples of Christ, trained in the study of the 
New Testament and the history of this move- 
ment, to contemplate for themselves any other 
form of baptism than immersion. Nor can one 
favor the idea that the fathers themselves, in 
their devout searching of the Scriptures, should 
have reached any other conclusion regarding their 
own practice. Yet in the light of the long and 
painful strife, which has ceased to have interest 
for all but a diminishing number in any of the 
churches, is it probable that the fathers, if they 
could have foreseen the issue of the vears on this 



26 PROGRESS 

question, would have taken the same exclusive 
ground? We know that they were not always of 
the same mind about the matter even then. That 
they would have been consistent in their advocacy 
of immersion to the end of the day, even as are all 
the Disciples of Christ, is not to be doubted. But 
would they, in the light of the unhappy part the 
baptismal controversy has played in the later life 
of the church, have decided to make the Disciple 
conscience a test of the church relationship of 
other Christians in this important matter? We 
cannot tell ; and probably various answers would 
be given. 

In another significant matter, that of the com- 
munion, there was a certain modification of view 
as the movement took ampler form. At the first, 
among the reformers as well as in the churches in 
America and abroad which were of similar views, 
and with which they exchanged messages, there 
was a strong sentiment in favor of close com- 
munion. This was the almost universal practice 
among the Baptists. The fathers themselves 
seem to have favored this view, that it was proper 
to exclude all but immersed believers from the 
Lord's Supper. But no clear pronouncements 
were made upon the question by these men. The 
struggle of the broader and the narrower opinions 
within the body of reformers is evident from this 



INTRODUCTION 27 

very fact, as is well shown in the article on "Doc- 
trinal Progress" in this volume. Gradually the 
more liberal view gained momentum. This is 
proved by the eager and insistent challenge of 
some of the ultra-conservatives, who demanded 
the reason why the unimmersed should be ad- 
mitted to the communion and not into church 
membership. This question was really never 
answered. It never has been satisfactorily an- 
swered. But at the time it was pressed in behalf 
of the more restricted practice in regard to the 
communion, and not as a plea for the recognition 
of the unimmersed in any form of association in 
the churches. 

A STATIC CHURCH 

But perhaps the most interesting modification 
made in the thinking and practice of the fathers 
and their successors related to their conception 
of the apostolic church as a static and invariable 
institution, set up once for all in the world, and 
not to be modified by anyhuman device. In this 
they shared the thought of their times. The 
historical method, which puts emphasis upon 
the progressive changes taking place both in 
nature and the world of human affairs without 
interruption through the ages, was not as yet em- 
ployed. The only manner in which the striking 



28 PROGRESS 

variations of doctrine and cultus in the church 
could be explained was that of departure from a 
primitive perfect norm. This was the favorite 
phraseology of the pioneers. These varieties of 
Christian service and teaching, which we today 
are able to interpret as in some true sense the rich 
diversity of gifts from the same Spirit of grace, 
our fathers could only account for as perversions 
of the truth and departures from the faith once 
for all delivered to the saints. In this they were 
both right and wrong. Many of the doctrines 
and practices of the churches were in direct 
antagonism to the spirit of the gospel. But the 
fathers did not always discriminate. Hence they 
assailed with vehement denunciation not a few 
of the forms of Christian activity which to us 
have become essential parts of the Christian 
society. To read the mordant and ruthless criti- 
cisms leveled by Alexander Campbell and his as- 
sociates at the Bible Society, the Sunday school, 
the missionary boards, the tract societies, and 
other instruments for the propagation of Chris- 
tian truth is to experience an astonishing sense of 
discomfort and chagrin. But Mr. Campbell and 
his friends were wiser in practice than in theory. 
So far as public expression went they never 
retracted these statements. But in a very 
practical manner they shifted their ground. They 



INTRODUCTION 29 

adjusted themselves to the evolutionary process 
without perceiving that it was an evolution at all. 
The Christian Baptist was discontinued. The 
Millennial Harbinger, far more constructive, 
conciliatory and progressive in tone, was inaugu- 
rated. And very soon the human devices which 
had met such caustic condemnation were recog- 
nized as useful agencies for the furtherance of the 
gospel. Mr. Campbell became the president of 
the first missionary society organized among the 
Disciples. 

THE FATHERS TRUE PROGRESSIVES 

These are but instances to illustrate the sagac- 
ity with which the fathers met the issues of their 
time, and refused to be hampered even by theories 
and convictions which they had reached with 
struggle and sacrifice, and which, so far as they 
were conscious of deliberate change, remained 
unmodified to the end. They were men who met 
conditions as they found them. They were filled 
with a supreme purpose, the unification of the 
church. Through success and failure they held 
unfailingly to this ideal. To such modifications 
of opinion and practice as they were compelled 
to accept by the circumstances of the time they 
adjusted themselves with tact and wisdom. They 
were themselves admirable examples of the pro- 



30 PROGRESS 

gressive spirit. They were protagonists of new 
and startling experiments. They were disturbers 
of the peace to many of the complacent in Zion. 
But they were never denunciatory for the sake 
of bitterness, nor polemical for the joy of battle. 
Through strife and conciliation alike they kept 
the clear vision of the King in his beauty, and the 
land of unity that stretches far away. 

The' heritage which they devised has been left 
to us of the later generation. With some advan- 
tages which they did not possess we are permitted 
to continue their labors. The times have greatly 
changed since they were here. The progress 
which they witnessed in part has carried far. But 
the enterprise they attempted has grown more 
imperial in the meantime. Some of the things 
they thought to be of great importance have 
ceased to interest the Christian world. Their 
view of progressive revelation, startling as it was 
to the men of their time, has been superseded by 
more vital conceptions of the divine activity in 
history. Their idea of the Messiaship of Jesus, 
vigorous and simple as it seemed to hosts at that 
time, is unconvincing because too political and 
forensic. Their use of typology and symbol, once 
illuminating, is now archaic. Their millennial 
hopes, so widely shared in the Christian society 
of the thirties, have given way to more satisfying 



INTRODUCTION 31 

interpretations of Scripture. And many other 
odds and ends of teaching and procedure, ac- 
cepted from various sources, have fallen away in 
the progress of the years. 

But the clear vision of a united church has 
never faded. It grows more luminous with the 
decades. In the day of the fathers it was a 
remote and unconvincing picture. Those who 
pleaded for it were voices crying in the wilder- 
ness. Today the entire church of God in the 
world has been awakened to interest in the theme. 
Every consideration of Christian loyalty and 
statesmanship insists upon it. The cause of 
Christian unity has been reinforced by a host of 
considerations never perceived by the fathers. 
Motives Scriptural, institutional, economic, mis- 
sionary, fraternal, and pragmatic are emerging 
to insistent attention. A score of the most suc- 
cessful interdenominational organizations are 
today assuming that the church is one, and are 
promoting its oneness. In fact, in so far as 
people are Christian at all, they are already 
fundamentally united. This is a day far on 
toward the realization of the things of which 
the fathers dreamed. It only remains to those 
who are the loyal followers of those great souls 
to fulfil their testimony in the new and brighten- 



32 PROGRESS 

A NOBLE HERITAGE 

The Disciples of Christ have as a body 
remained true to the heritage left them, though 
they have not always worked at the task. They 
have been diverted to side issues here and there 
which wasted their energy and obscured their 
message. Many of them have forgotten the rock 
from which they were hewed and the pit from 
whence they were digged. Some of them have 
worshiped false gods in the wilderness, or lost 
their testimony in foolish shibboleths at the Jor- 
dan. But the great body of our people is still 
sensitive to the cause which gave us historic being. 
Perhaps we have not always discerned the man- 
ner in which that ideal was to be realized. It may 
be that visions of denominational greatness have 
obscured too much the ideal of the united church. 
But we have needed only the arousal of urgent 
voices to bring us back to our task, and in the 
end of the day we must not fail. 

For no people in the long story of the centuries 
has had so clear a path to its goal. And 
none has possessed the essential combination of 
strength and freedom in greater measure. The 
Disciples have evermore held with unfailing loy- 
alty to the fundamentals of the Christian faith. 
The reality of God, the divinity and lordship of 



INTRODUCTION 33 

Jesus Christ, the inspiration and authority of 
the Holy Scriptures, the divine purpose and re- 
demptive vocation of the church, the work of the 
Holy Spirit, the life of consecration and serv- 
ice, and the hope of the life eternal, — these are 
among the essential items of belief which the 
Disciples of Christ share with all evangelical 
Christians. 

But they also have their unique task and testi- 
mony, inherited from the fathers who gave them 
being, modified and broadened in the passing of 
years, but still essentially the same after a cen- 
tury of effort. This is the joy and duty of 
insisting upon the unity of the people of God; 
the divisive and unnecessary character of all 
human creeds as tests of fellowship; the suffi- 
ciency of Scriptural names for the followers of 
the Lord; the right of personal interpretation in 
the use of the Scriptures; the exemplification 
of the ideals of the apostolic church in faith, spirit 
and service; the simplicity of the gospel as the 
message of salvation to all mankind ; and refusal 
to impose any other test upon those who present 
themselves as candidates for the Christian life, or 
for any form of Christian service, than the apos- 
tolic confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the 
Son of God and the Savior of the world. 

In loyalty to this inheritance and to these 



34 PROGRESS 

fundamental principles of our faith, as members 
of the great fellowship of believers throughout 
all the world, and as Disciples of Christ with a 
majestic inheritance and a thrilling opportunity, 
we undertake, like David of old, the high task of 
serving our generation by the grace of God 
before we fall asleep. 

Herbert L. Willett. 



HISTORY OF THE CAMPBELL INSTITUTE 

TN the autumn of 1892 five Disciples who were 
studying at Yale University began to talk of 
an organization of university trained men in the 
ministry and in the colleges of the Disciples of 
Christ. Four of the five were graduates of 
different colleges — Bethany, Hiram, Eureka 
and Drake. One was a Yale freshman. All but 
one had been reared in devoted Disciple homes. 
They were drawn together by common religious 
interest and acquaintance and also by the fact 
that they were all westerners making their first 
adjustment to the New England academic 
environment. At Yale they found themselves 
more fully in the midst of that great world of 
learning and culture of which they had received 
the first impressions in the smaller colleges. 
They heard lectures by famous men from various 
American and foreign universities. A deeper, 
vaster intellectual and social life surged about 
them. 

In the three years which followed, most of 
these students continued their work at the Uni- 
versity of Chicago in association with other like- 
minded Disciples. The Disciples' Divinity 
House was founded there in 1894. Its courses 

35 



36 PROGRESS 

in the History of the Disciples and in the History 
of Doctrine among the Disciples gave oppor- 
tunity to survey this history in the light of 
modern scholarship. These studies deepened 
loyalty to the ideals of the Disciples and espe- 
cially to the spirit and vision of Thomas and 
Alexander Campbell. It became clear that 
upon many ministers, teachers and editors of the 
second and third generation formal and legalistic 
habits of thought had hardened. These men 
were absorbed in the pioneering enterprises of 
the new central west. In their aggressive 
activities they found little time or pressing 
need to inquire whether their plea and program 
preserved the spirit and expansive leaven of the 
first leaders. In the stirring life of the frontier 
it was easy to give more attention to the insti- 
tutional side, making converts and building 
churches, than to the more inward and reflective 
problems of religion. 

ORIGIN AND PURPOSE 

The Campbell Institute was organized at 
Springfield, Illinois, October 19, 1896, during 
the sessions of the national convention of the 
Disciples of Christ. There were fourteen char- 
ter members of whom the following are living 
and active in the organization: W. E. Garrison, 



HISTORY 37 

L. W. Morgan, H. L. Willett, Levi Marshall, 
G. A. Campbell, Clinton Loekhart, C. C. Row- 
lison, B. A. Jenkins, E. S. Ames. 

These men were drawn together by their com- 
mon experience of having felt the impact of the 
larger world of culture upon their religious inher- 
itance. They were full of enthusiasm for the 
ideal plea of the Disciples for union and freedom 
and progress in religion, but they had begun to 
realize that there was need for reinterpretation 
and for new methods of religious work. The 
organization was also the outcome of deeper and 
less conscious impulses. The American frontier 
was just vanishing, and with it pioneer condi- 
tions. The great tides of population were rap- 
idly moving to the cities. Great corporations and 
extending railroads began to dominate American 
industrial life. Million dollar fortunes sprang up 
as by magic. Leadership in religion from that 
time forth would be less with the plain rural 
preachers and the village churches and more with 
city pulpits under the guidance of better educated 
and more urbane ministers. The new scientific 
age and its meaning for religion could only be 
effectively turned to account for the spiritual life 
by those who were sympathetically conversant 
with it. 

The original constitution of the Campbell 



38 PROGRESS 

Institute reflects the earnest desire to facilitate 
among the members continuous participation in 
the world's growing knowledge and cooperation 
in its highest uses. The purpose as stated was 
three-fold : 

"(1) To encourage and keep alive a schol- 
arly spirit and to enable its members to help each 
other to a riper scholarship by the free discussion 
of vital problems. 

"(2) To promote quiet self -culture and the 
development of a higher spirituality among the 
members and among the churches with which 
they shall come in contact. 

"(3) To encourage positive productive work 
with a view to making contributions of perma- 
nent value to the literature and thought of the 
Disciples of Christ." 

Two notes from later Bulletins help to define 
the organization's conception of itself. One in 
1903 reads, "The Campbell Institute is not a 
secret society. Neither does it desire publicity. 
It seeks to do a work for its own members and 
for others of like spirit." Another paragraph in 
1906 is this: 

"The Institute was the outgrowth of the con- 
sciousness of the new knowledge which has char- 
acterized the great universities in the past 
twenty-five years, and which has made a world 



HISTORY 39 

of new problems for the church. Many young 
men were being lost to the ministry and to the 
educational work of the Disciples. Others who 
were engaged in these lines found little encour- 
agement to be faithful to the new learning and 
were tempted to fall back to the common level 
or to indulge in profitless obscurantism in reli- 
gious work." 

An important enterprise to which the Institute 
has given its heartiest support is the Congress of 
the Disciples, an organization through which 
since 1899 an annual program of papers and dis- 
cussions has been held. These papers have dealt 
with fundamental problems of doctrine, of prac- 
tical religious work and social progress. A large 
proportion have been contributed by members of 
the Campbell Institute. 

Another kind of contribution may be seen in 
an article in the Bulletin during the year 1905. 
It is a service for the dedication of children, pre- 
pared by Professor C. B. Coleman. It is signifi- 
cant as the first attempt among the Disciples to 
recognize the child, by a definite ritual, as a part 
of the religious group. It is likely that the 
churches of Disciples would have laid hold more 
firmly upon the imagination and affection of 
their members if they had built up or appropri- 
ated more symbolism and ceremonial especially 



40 PROGRESS 

with reference to children's relation to the 
church. 

PUBLICATIONS AND CHAMBERS 

In September, 1906, the Institute began the 
publication of The Scroll, a monthly periodical. 
During the three preceding years, a quarterly 
Bulletin had been printed for circulation among 
the members. The Scroll went to anyone who 
ordered it. It sought to embody the free and 
noble spirit of Thomas Campbell and to empha- 
size the original, exalted ideals of the movement 
which he inaugurated. For two years and two 
months the publication stood valiantly for these 
things. It was unsparing and unafraid. It drew 
the fire of conservative journals and brought 
upon the Institute no little criticism. About the 
time it was discontinued, The Christian Century 
came under its present editorial management, 
giving more frequent and more popular expres- 
sion to the same general views. 

Because The Scroll was discontinued, its critics 
came to believe that the Institute itself had 
ceased to exist. But that was never the case. 
The annual meetings were held regularly and 
there never was any pronounced change in the 
membership. For several reasons, chiefly the 
inability of the officers in some years to give 



HISTORY 41 

attention to the details of the organization, the 
Institute was not conducted with the efficiency 
and enthusiasm which have characterized it dur- 
ing nearly all of its history. 

Since 1910 the monthly Bulletin has been 
issued and distributed regularly to the mem- 
bers. It contains news and editorial comment 
with regular departments or "chambers." A spe- 
cialist in each chamber contributes book notices 
and reviews and such suggestions as will direct 
reading and study in the subject. Each of these 
chambers deals with one of the following fields : 
literature, education, missions, history, classical 
languages, pastoral duties, sociology, systematic 
theology, Old Testament, New Testament, phi- 
losophy, religious education. 

The membership of the Institute is of four 
kinds, regular, associate, cooperating and honor- 
ary. The greater number belong to the first. 
The second is constituted of students who are 
college graduates and have entered upon ad- 
vanced university work. They are expected to 
become regular members upon the attainment of 
the higher degrees. The cooperating members 
are laymen who are interested in the work of the 
Institute and desire to share in its spirit and 
practical tasks. Honorary members are chosen 
from those who have distinguished themselves in 



42 PROGRESS 

literary and professional pursuits. Not more 
than one each year may be elected. The total 
membership has steadily increased through the 
years until there are now about two hundred. 

The membership is widely distributed through- 
out the United States and other countries. This 
is illustrated by the fact that Founder's Day, 
October 19, 1916, which was the twentieth anni- 
versary of the organization, was celebrated by 
local groups of members in the following cities: 
Kansas City, Des Moines, Iowa City, Indian- 
apolis, Eureka, Springfield and Chicago. Mem- 
bers in New Haven and New York and other 
centers remembered the day in a less formal 
manner. 

No attempt has been made to keep records of 
the publications of members through these twenty 
years. The newspaper writing has been most 
voluminous but there have been many important 
articles and papers published and not a few 
books. It is impossible also to know fully the 
work which has been accomplished by ministers 
in churches and teachers in class rooms, but the 
achievements have been continuous and in many 
instances very notable. 

This score of years has been a period of much 
searching of heart among the Disciples. When 
seen in the full perspective of some distant future 



HISTORY 43 

day it is not unlikely that the organization and 
development of the Campbell Institute will be 
given a large and worthy place among the events 
of these decades which contributed intelligently 
and constructively to the spiritual progress of the 
Disciples of Christ and to our common American 
Christianity. 

Edward Scribner Ames. 



THE CAMPBELL INSTITUTE: QUESTIONS 
AND ANSWERS 

TN the very nature of the case, the Campbell 
Institute was certain to be misunderstood. An 
organization composed of university men will 
always be a very small minority and will be the 
object of mingled feelings on the part of those 
who are without and who must ever remain with- 
out. If the members of such an exclusive organ- 
ization are circumspect and irreproachable in 
their conduct and speech, they will at best be 
the objects of good-natured envy on the part 
of their friends. But if they are careless, or 
thoughtless, if they "loose wild tongues," they 
may incur violent opposition and enduring hatred 
provided their opponents are assumed to be fal- 
lible. A group of men, privately organized with 
qualifications that necessarily exclude the ninety 
and nine will not only be under constant accusa- 
tion of arrogance, but will need to be eternally on 
guard lest the accusation be just, and very vigi- 
lant that humility and service may occupy the 
focus of attention. 

So true are the above observations that for 
many years the membership always contained 
some people who thought the disadvantages out- 

44 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 45 

weighed the benefits. They recognized the good 
of such an organization, but sadly insisted that 
it was eternally doomed to be misrepresented. 
Some of them even went so far as to advocate its 
summary discontinuance. A few carried their 
conviction to the point of resigning from the 
Institute. But at the present time, in a mem- 
bership of about two hundred, there is no voice 
heard questioning the value and expediency of 
the plan of organization. It is clear that the men 
of university training are debtors to the brother- 
hood, of Christians at large and to the Disciples 
of Christ in particular. It is evident that we are 
under obligations to use our training for the good 
of the church and the race. Books should be 
written by us, problems should be attacked, enter- 
prises should be launched, doctrines should be 
proclaimed just because we are debtors to all. 
Not that we possess a monopoly of energy or 
wisdom or devotion, but there is a clear convic- 
tion that the service of university men is needed 
and they cannot afford to hide their light under 
a bushel. There is also the definite conviction 
that an organization such as the Campbell Insti- 
tute is a great help and a needed stimulus to 
activity and service. 

If an analogy be sought for the Institute, per- 
haps the learned societies like the various national 



46 PROGRESS 

scientific and classical associations would most 
resemble the conception in the minds of the 
greater part of the membership. The chief mo- 
tive impelling men to accept membership is, per- 
haps, the attraction of the fellowship in a group 
like ours. The chief shortcoming that most of us 
feel is that we have done so little in the way of 
productive scholarship. The accusations on the 
part of those who do not understand us and who 
charge that we are engaged in various conspira- 
cies, only amuse us, for they are wholly untrue. 

CHARACTER OF THE ORGANIZATION 

In order that the statement of the nature and 
purpose of the Institute may be very plain, the 
following questions and answers are set forth: 

What is the Campbell Institute? 

It is an organization of men of university 
training. 

Why are they organized? 

To enable them to serve the brotherhood to 
which they belong. 

To what brotherhood do they belong? 

To the Disciples of Christ. 

How can they serve the brotherhood? 

By keeping alive a scholarly spirit, by pro- 
moting a quiet self-culture and a higher spirit- 
uality among themselves and the churches, and 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 47 

by encouraging each other to do productive work 
with a view to the enrichment of the literature 
and thought of the Disciples. 

When was the Institute organized? 

In 1896. 

How many were in the organization? 

Fourteen charter members. 

What impelled them to organize? 

Many young men were being lost, or were in 
danger of being lost, to the ministry and educa- 
tional work of the Disciples because higher 
education seemed to mean a break with the 
brotherhood. Also, the attraction of fellowship 
one with another was very great. 

Were the founders university men? 

They were, and all the regular members are 
now presumed to be. 

What are the qualifications for regular mem- 
bership? 

Except in rare instances, a man must have the 
B. D. or Ph. D. degree from a recognized uni- 
versity. Students who are pursuing their 
university courses are received as associate mem- 
bers, and a few business and professional men 
are enrolled as cooperating members. Some few 
distinguished men are honorary members. 

What professions are represented? 

Chiefly preachers and teachers. 



48 PROGRESS 

Are all the members of the Institute also 
Disciples? 

Some of them belong to other communions, 
though not more than five or six. 

Do those who leave the Disciples forfeit mem- 
bership in the Institute in so doing? 

They do not. They are supposed to have 
conscientious reasons for taking such a step and 
the Institute men desire to honor their sincerity 
by continuing their fellowship. Perhaps they 
may come back! 

What activities are carried on? 

There is a monthly bulletin which circulates 
among the members, the chief feature of which 
is to be found in the Chambers, or departments, 
each of which is entrusted to a specialist who 
writes a brief monthly note concerning the new 
books in his field, and who is theoretically ready 
to assist anyone who wishes to work in that field. 

What subjects are assigned to the Chambers? 

Old Testament, New Testament, Pastoral 
Duties, History, Sociology, Theology, Philos- 
ophy, Literature, Education, Classics, Missions, 
and Religious Education. 

What has the Institute accomplished? 

Much, in many ways. Its members organ- 
ized the Congress of Disciples, and also impor- 
tant educational movements. They have financed 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 49 

attempts to collect certain statistics. Much of 
the good the Institute has done has consisted in 
the encouragement of its members to conscien- 
tious pursuit of scholarship, and the cultivation 
of congenial fellowship in the work of the King- 
dom of God. 

THE MEMBERSHIP 

How many members are there now? 

About two hundred. 

Where do they live? 

In North America, England, the Islands, and 
Asia. 

What vocations? 

Teachers, preachers, missionaries, college 
presidents, editors, poets, and a few business 
men, lawyers, and doctors. 

To what school of theology do the men of the 
Institute belong? 

There is the widest diversity of theological 
and philosophical view-point. 

Is there not uniformity of opinion and doc- 
trinal position? 

Absolutely not. There is wide variety and 
the completest freedom. 

But are not most of the members "liberal" or 
"advanced" or "modernist" in their views? 

Perhaps so, but some are very conservative 



50 PROGRESS 

and the only qualification demanded is the re- 
quired training and an openminded and tolerant 
attitude. 

What do the men in the Institute want to do? 

They desire above all else to serve the brother- 
hood. 

Why do they not leave the brotherhood? 

Because they love it, are loyal to its principles, 
and are proud to claim membership in its ranks. 

With what particular wing of the Disciples is 
the Institute identified? 

None. There is no journal or formulation 
which represents all the members. 

Is the Institute a secret society? 

No, but it is a private association. In its 
meetings there is no thought of secrecy, although 
the public is only rarely invited. There is rarely 
a meeting without the presence of some invited 
guests. 

Are there regular meetings? 

Yes, once a year, usually in Chicago in the 
summer, there is a meeting of two or three days 
at which from thirty to fifty men gather for 
discussion. 

What takes place at these meetings? 

Reading of papers and discussion on the widest 
variety of topics. 

Do the members reach agreement? 

Very rarely. The discussion is usually very 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 51 

animated and free. The Institute contains many 
scholars and many varieties of opinion. It is not 
a school of thought but a school of thinkers. 

Did the Institute publish the Scroll? 

It did. 

What was the Scroll? 

A journal for public circulation for the dis- 
cussion of all subjects without limitation. 

Why did it publish the Scroll ? 

To allow its members to express themselves 
freely. 

Did all the members agree with the writer's in 
the Scroll? 

Many of the articles were acceptable to only a 
few of the members, some of them perhaps would 
have been questioned by everyone but the author. 

Why did not the others repudiate such 
teachings? 

A notice was kept standing to the effect that 
writers were alone responsible for their views. 
Those who asserted that all other members held 
the radical views expressed were either very 
careless or else they intended to mislead the 
public. 

Why did not the other members formally dis- 
avow the extreme positions? 

They think the best thing for a brother is to 
let him speak his mind. Truth requires no 
special nurse. 



52 PROGRESS 

Why was the Scroll discontinued? 

Because it was impossible to make the public 
discriminate between tolerance and approval. 

Did the Institute disband? 

Its dissolution was repeatedly announced, to 
the great amusement of the members, but every 
year has witnessed an increase in its membership, 
and it was never so large or so vigorous as now. 

What is the future 'program of the Institute? 

It will try to keep alight the torch of inspira- 
tion, and to keep its members zealous for service 
to the cause. 

What propaganda will it undertake? 

None, save to be ready to aid in every good 
enterprise. 

Are there tasks for the Institute? 

Many practical helpful enterprises have at one 
time or another been discussed, but abandoned, 
often for the lack of funds. But the Institute is 
abundantly justified if it furnishes inspiration 
and fellowship to the increasing company of 
young men who have received the higher educa- 
tion and who desire to make their lives count for 
Christ and the church. 

What is the motto of the Institute? 

FREEDOM AND TRUTH. 

Ellsworth Faris. 



THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 

/ ~pHE body of people known as the Disciples 
A of Christ, or in some parts of the United 
States as the Christian Church, is one of the 
youngest of Protestant bodies. As in the cases 
of some of the denominations about it, there 
were conditions in the religious world, both in 
America and Great Britain, which brought it 
into being, and it has attempted for more than 
a century, as the most notable religious move- 
ment in American history, to bear insistent and 
convincing testimony on the great theme which 
constitutes its message, — that of Christian 
union. 

The fact that a religious body numbering more 
than a million communicants and with so con- 
siderable a record of achievement has its congre- 
gations and mission stations in so many portions 
of America, in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 
England, and throughout the world renders it 
important that it should make clear to all in- 
quirers the reasons for its existence, and the 
truth it wishes to urge upon the attention of all 
students of religious history. 

The desire to secure a closer fellowship of the 
followers of Jesus and a more convincing realiza- 

53 



54 PROGRESS 

tion of his prayer, "That they all may be one," 
has not been confined to any one section of the 
church, nor to any one period in its history. 
Through the long years of division, beginning 
with the early centuries, voices have been raised 
in protest against this sign of weakness, and 
efforts have been put forth for its amendment. 
But the organization and growth of the 
Disciples of Christ constitute the most definite 
and formal attempt to embody in an efficient 
movement the widespread and increasing senti- 
ment in behalf of a united church. And though 
the Disciples rejoice in every manifestation of 
the spirit of brotherhood in the universal church, 
and count themselves as only one among many 
forces laboring for the common end, they are 
deeply convinced that as a body of Christian 
people committed by their history and interests 
to this one great and impressive object, they can 
aid to no small extent in its realization 

EISE OF THE MOVEMENT 

In the early years of the last century a group 
of men, chiefly Presbyterians, living in western 
Pennsylvania became much stirred over the 
divided condition of the church. They were 
regretful witnesses of sectarian rivalries which 
sprang out of isolation, and bred a spirit of 



THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 55 

suspicion and hostility among different sections 
even of the same denomination. The results 
were lamentable, as they always are where the 
interests of competing churches are set above the 
larger ideal of the Kingdom of God. 

One of these men, Rev. Thomas Campbell, a 
minister of the Seceder Presbyterian Church, 
recently arrived from the north of Ireland, wish- 
ing to give voice to his anxieties and his hopes, 
published in the year 1809 a document which he 
named "A Declaration and Address." It was a 
statement of the evils wrought by sectarian divi- 
sions, and an appeal to the church of Christ to 
give serious attention to the weakness and scan- 
dal resulting from division, and to make an 
earnest effort to unite upon the essentials of the 
Christian faith as made known by Jesus and his 
first interpreters. 

It was no part of the program of Mr. Camp- 
bell or the friends who gathered about him with 
the same sentiments, to form another organiza- 
tion. They were too keenly sensitive to the evils 
of separatism in the church to desire to add 
another to the existing denominations. But they 
hoped to foster in the churches with which they 
were directly connected a spirit of cooperation 
which should reduce friction, economize re- 
sources and promote a larger respect for 



56 PROGRESS 

Christianity on the part of those unconnected 
with any church. 

These hopes were but meagerly realized by this 
little group of advocates. Perhaps they had not 
sufficiently reckoned with the venerable charac- 
ter of denominational history and the warmth 
of denominational attachments. Gradually the 
men themselves fell under suspicion and dis- 
approval in the churches to which they belonged. 
And the "Washington Association," which they 
had formed among the interested people of 
Washington County, Penn., became, almost 
without their awareness or sanction, the "Brush 
Run Church, " the first congregation of the new 
movement. 

From the first these "Reformers," as they 
called themselves, had a few simple plans for the 
realization of their great purpose. They re- 
solved to be guided alone by the Word of God, 
particularly the New Testament, and to avoid 
all human formulations of faith and practice. 
They were persuaded that the divisions which 
they deplored were in large measure the result 
of the many creeds and doctrinal standards 
which had emerged from religious controversy. 
They would seek a common ground of belief and 
conduct by an appeal direct to Christ and the 
primitive church. 



THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 57 

They used familiarly a phrase employed by 
Mr. Campbell in the document already men- 
tioned: "Where the Bible speaks, we speak; 
where the Bible is silent, we are silent." By 
this they meant that they would proclaim as 
essential nothing which the Word of God left 
open to human opinion. They labored for the 
restoration of the apostolic church, not in the 
mere imitation of its fragmentary and imperfect 
approach to the ideals of Jesus, but in the larger 
sphere of its faith, its spirit and its service. This 
they felt to be the most practicable approach to 
the unity of the church. They quoted often with 
approval that watchword of the first Protestants : 
"In Essentials, Unity; in Opinions, Liberty; in 
all things, Charity." 

THE LEADERS OF THE MOVEMENT 

Among the leaders in this adventure of laying 
upon the conscience of the church the sin and 
disaster of division, and the need and prac- 
ticability of unity upon the New Testament 
program, the first and most prophetic spirit was 
Thomas Campbell, already named. His was a 
broad and catholic nature, deeply touched by the 
unhappy conditions prevailing in his day, and 
eager to be of service in their amendment. He 
was soon joined by his son, Alexander, who in 



58 PROGRESS 

1809, the year in which the "Declaration and 
Address" appeared, arrived in America from 
Scotland, where he had spent some time in the 
University of Glasgow. He threw himself into 
the enterprise with ardor, and until his death in 
1866 he was the most conspicuous figure in the 
work of the Disciples. 

These men were regularly ordained ministers 
according to church usage. But their adoption 
of the principle of submitting all matters to the 
New Testament for approval led them to the 
restudy, among other things, of the subject of 
baptism. They became convinced that the 
immersion of adult believers was the practice of 
the primitive church, and thereupon adopted it 
as the custom in the young and growing body 
of which they were the leaders. This step they 
took as a means of reaching common and un- 
controversial ground on a question likely to 
arouse discussion. This brought them into fel- 
lowship with the Baptists. It should be noted 
that the position taken by these men on the 
subject of baptism was not intended to be dog- 
matic, but irenic. It was for the purpose of 
reaching catholic ground that they gave up their 
previous practice. For a time the Reformers, or 
Disciples, were members of the Redstone Bap- 
tist Association, and later, of the Mahoning 



THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 59 

Baptist Association. If the more tolerant spirit 
of the present day could have marked the rela- 
tions of the two groups in these associations, the 
union might have been perpetual. Unfortunately 
doctrinal differences arose, and the Disciples 
gradually withdrew into a separate body. 

In the meantime the movement was spreading 
rapidly through western Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Kentucky and West Virginia. Mr. Campbell 
was its conspicuous interpreter. He established 
a college at Bethany, W. Va. He published 
books and journals. He traveled extensively, 
preaching, lecturing and debating. His public 
discussion with Robert Owen, the socialist, and 
with Archbishop Purcell, the Roman Catholic, 
brought him into marked prominence as the 
defender of constructive Christianity. Men of 
consecration and ability joined him in the plea 
for a united church upon the New Testament 
basis. Among these men were Barton W. Stone 
of Kentucky, a leader in the Christian Church, 
often known as the Christian Connection, a body 
of people likewise pleading for Christian Union ; 
and Walter Scott of Ohio, a preacher of excep- 
tional power. 

In this manner the Disciples developed into a 
strong and aggressive body of Christians. 
During the half century from 1830 to 1880 great 



60 PROGRESS 

emphasis was placed upon the multiplication of 
their churches and institutions. To many it 
might have seemed that they were intent only 
upon the attainment of denominational strength, 
and that they differed not at all from the 
denominations around them. But their leaders 
have never lost sight of their historic purpose, 
and at heart they have always been true to their 
plea for a reunited church. During the closing 
years of the last century and the opening period 
of this there has come to the Disciples a new 
sense of urgency in behalf of this their great 
purpose, and a fresh desire to be of service in the 
realization of the most needed of all religious 
achievements. The evangelization of the world 
waits for a united church. The Disciples of 
Christ, welcoming every favorable sign of the 
times, wish to share with Christians of like con- 
viction and purpose everywhere in the attain- 
ment of that end. 

THE PLEA AND THE METHOD 

The Disciples have not hoped or desired to 
realize the union of the church by the absorption 
of other religious bodies. Yet they wish to 
present a platform on which Christians of any 
name or creed may stand, without compromise 
or burden. The fathers of this movement 



THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 61 

sought to find a catholic and common ground. 
Here the Disciples of today, invoking the leader- 
ship of the Christ, undertake to render their 
service to the church and to the world. They 
have no fixed theory regarding the form which 
the unity so much desired shall take. They know 
that many obstacles must first be removed. But 
they desire to contribute to the end. 

They accept no human name, since all such 
have proved divisive. The names made sacred 
and venerable by the usage of the first believers 
seem sufficient and appropriate. As individuals 
they call themselves Disciples, Christians, breth- 
ren. Their churches are known as churches of 
the Disciples, Christian churches, or churches of 
Christ. Yet none of these names is held in any 
exclusive spirit. They are the common property 
of all the children of God, and it is the hope of 
the Disciples that their substitution for human 
and denominational names may remove in part 
the barriers to a united church. 

The Disciples, conscious of the divisions which 
have resulted from the formulation and imposi- 
tion of human creeds, have insistently protested 
against the creation and use of such in any of 
their churches or other institutions, while with 
unfailing loyalty they have affirmed the great 
and undisputed verities of the Christian faith. 



62 PROGRESS 

The acceptance of the single apostolic confession 
of the lordship and leadership of Jesus is 
deemed ample for the beginnings of the Chris- 
tian life, as it was in the apostolic church. This 
finds admirable expression in the confession of 
Peter: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God." This confession is made the public 
declaration of faith in Jesus as Savior and 
Master, and of a decision to forsake all other 
leaders for him, all other service for his. It is 
the open declaration of faith and repentance, 
and thus of readiness to become a recognized 
member of the church of Christ. 

Baptism is the act in which the penitent be- 
liever signifies his acceptance of the new relation- 
ship with Christ, and his claim to all the privileges 
and opportunities of the Christian society. The 
Disciples practice immersion, as being the custom 
of the early church, and beyond the line of 
controversies. 

The Disciples observe the Lord's Supper 
every week, as seems to have been, the practice 
of the primitive church. Its observance is a 
matter of personal choice, and all Christians are 
welcome to participate. Emphasis is laid upon 
the development of the Christian life through 
the study of the Word of God, the practice of 
prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, partici- 



THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 63 

pation in the service of humanity, and the evan- 
gelization of the world. 

In church government the Disciples are con- 
gregational. The individual church is the unit 
of authority. It chooses its own officers after 
the apostolic model of elders and deacons. It 
cooperates with its sister churches in missionary, 
educational and other efforts. It receives into its 
membership from other congregations of the 
Disciples and from other Christian bodies those 
who bring suitable recommendations. 

As an American religious movement, rising 
into prominence in the middle West, the chief 
numerical strength of the Disciples is found in 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri 
and Iowa. In one or more of these states the 
Disciples outnumber all other religious bodies. 

In the process of their history they have in- 
cluded in their fellowship such men of national 
prominence as President James A. Garfield, 
Speaker Champ Clark, Justice Joseph H. 
Lamar. Hon. David Lloyd George, Prime 
Minister of Great Britain, was reared in a Welsh 
church of the Disciples. 

ORGANIZATION 

The organized cooperative work of the Dis- 
ciples embraces many enterprises. Their educa- 

5 



64 PROGRESS 

tional work includes a dozen or more colleges, 
many secondary schools, and one graduate school 
for ministerial training. They have three na- 
tional journals, and many others of more limited 
circulation. The Foreign Christian Missionary 
Society has stations in Japan, China, India, 
Africa and the Islands, and its income during the 
past year amounted to $522,716. The American 
Christian Missionary Society is the home mis- 
sions board, with many departments, and an 
annual income of $250,000. The Christian 
Woman's Board of Missions does evangelistic,' 
educational and medical work in many parts of 
America and in the foreign field. Its contribu- 
tions to these causes have reached the annual sum 
of over $400,000. The Board of Church Exten- 
sion administers a loan fund of more than a mil- 
lion dollars to aid churches in the erection of 
buildings. The Board of Ministerial Relief cares 
for aged ministers and their families and dis- 
penses in this manner annually about $25,000. 
The Board of Education promotes educational 
interests. Similar bodies have oversight of 
Sunday School work, Benevolence, Christian 
Endeavor, Temperance, etc. In addition, an 
important work has been undertaken in the 
appointment of a "Commission on Christian 






THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 65 

Union," whose function it is to confer with 
similar groups from other religious bodies in the 
effort to promote Christian cooperation among 
the various denominations, to secure a more fra- 
ternal sentiment, and if advisable, to convene 
such representatives of the different churches as 
shall be inclined to labor for the unity now 
recognized as highly desirable. 

The Disciples meet in an annual convention, 
to which delegates are chosen by the churches. 
This convention receives the reports of the 
various boards, and promotes the efficiency of 
the churches in their cooperative work. 

During the past three years they have been 
engaged in the earnest effort to secure one thou- 
sand young men and women for the work of 
evangelization in the home and foreign field, and 
six millions of dollars for the more adequate 
equipment of their missionary and educational 
institutions. The organization entrusted with 
this task is known as the "Men and Millions 
Movement." 

It need hardly be added that the Disciples of 
Christ share with the evangelical churches of 
Protestantism the fundamental truths of the, 
Christian faith, such as the Fatherhood of God, 
the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, the Divinity 



66 PROGRESS 

and Saviorhood of Jesus, the Work of the Holy 
Spirit, the Mission of the Church, and the Life 
Eternal. 

But in addition to these matters of faith and 
service, the Disciples regard it as their supreme 
duty and privilege to bear insistent testimony to 
the need of unity among all Christians, the sin 
and scandal of division, and the divine imperative 
of bringing to realization the prayer of our Lord : 
"That they all may be one." In every com- 
munity they are set to this task. Wherever they 
permit themselves to forget it, or to seek mere 
denominational advantage for themselves, they 
are recreant to their history and their trust. 

For this reason they hold themselves not only 
ready to cooperate in all hopeful and well-consid- 
ered forms of Christian work, but as well under 
obligation to inaugurate and lead in such effort, 
not for the sake of prestige, but as a solemn duty. 
They regard it as an obligation to observe the 
rules of Christian comity and courtesy in their 
relations with Christians of other bodies. And 
wherever it is possible by uniting two congrega- 
tions to gain greater efficiency in the work of the 
Kingdom of God, not to hesitate on the ground 
of possible loss, but to labor for the realization 
of unity wherever it may be helpfully attained. 

The Disciples hold no fixed theory as to the 






THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 67 

form in which the long-desired unity of the 
church is to be realized. They are not charged 
with responsibility for that. Nor can they fore- 
tell the hour of its arrival. But they have a 
historic and imperative task, — and that is to be 
of some service in hastening the day. That a 
people so numerous and so efficient should be 
able to render great service in so imperial a cause 
is not to be questioned. And to this enterprise, 
timely and divine as it is, they invite all who 
share their vision and their hope. 

The Editors. 



IMPRESSIONS OF TWENTY YEARS 

TN giving impressions and convictions on two 
A decades of Disciple history the writer will 
make no reference to statistics or any of the 
material aspects of growth and prosperity. 

In a general and retrospective survey of the 
literature, activities and propaganda of this 
religious body within the circumscribed period of 
twenty years there are several outstanding ten- 
dencies which give assurance that the aim and 
spirit and purpose of its founders will come to 
realization. After a long period of controversy 
and frequent acrimonious debate in connection 
with questions related to conversion, creeds, and 
clerical authority, we have come into a very vivid 
consciousness that the promotion of Christian 
union is the end-all and be-all of our existence, — 
that whatever minimizes this contention is weak- 
ness and whatever helps toward its attainment is 
strength. We are discovering that nothing is 
essentially worth while as justification of our 
separate existence which does not promote this 
end, and that if this end should be fulfilled we 
shall have finished our course with joy. 

This, it seems to me, is rather a change of 
accent than a change of fundamental convictions. 



IMPRESSIONS OF TWENTY YEARS 69 

The glory of the vision has moderated the sharp- 
ness and bitterness of our doctrinal controversies. 
It is not probable that we think very differently, 
for instance, on the subject of the office and work 
of the Holy Spirit in conversion. Unquestion- 
ably a larger and richer conception of the min- 
istry of the Holy Spirit is accepted. What is 
necessary to the constitution of the church of 
Jesus Christ, what faith, what ordinances, what 
organization, what ministry, are questions about 
which there is no marked difference of opinion. 
It is evident, however, that within the last two 
decades there has been a subordination of these 
matters that once were paramount in sermon and 
magazine and religious revivals. We have come 
somewhat to the mood represented in the lines: 

"Of what* avail are plow and sail 
If freedom fail." 

We are like Kipling's story of "The ship that 
found herself" in the stress and strain of storm 
and wave. We have found ourselves. We can 
now say, "To this end were we born and for this 
purpose came we into the world. " We are con- 
vinced as never before that even important mat- 
ters must not receive such emphasis as will divert 
this great movement from its supreme task. 
Certainly it is tremendously worth while to have 



70 PROGRESS 

become so vividly conscious of our place and posi- 
tion and work in the midst of a divided Protestant 
Christianity. 

Within twenty years it has been emphasized as 
never before that Christian union can be pro- 
moted only through the largest liberty of inter- 
pretation; that nothing worthy to be called union 
is possible in the world of mind that does not 
allow and encourage the freest exercise of our 
God-given faculties; that there can never be a 
union based upon ecclesiastical authority or uni- 
form and stereotyped convictions outwardly 
imposed. It must be evident that any union im- 
posed from without is like a column of sand 
whose separate particles are held together by 
the pressure of the wind. Such a union unques- 
tionably is possible in church life as illustrated 
by the great Roman Catholic Church. It would 
be impossible in a democracy. Unless the union 
among the Protestant churches shall be wholly 
voluntary and whole-hearted no further advance 
can be made beyond that which is already se- 
cured, for instance, in the Federal Council of the 
Churches of Christ in America. This is only 
federation for cooperation in the work of the 
Kingdom. It could hardly be called union. 
Until the fundamental principle of the right of 
private interpretation is recognized fully, with 



IMPRESSIONS OF TWENTY YEARS 71 

all of its incidental dangers, there must always 
be groups who declare for Paul or Cephas or 
Apollos. No self-respecting union is possible 
except in an organization of free souls — all of 
one mind in their unfettered determination to 
maintain their inalienable rights and their free 
inheritance in Christ Jesus. 

THE SOLE BASIS OF UNION 

If , Christian union is possible in our own 
brotherhood, with men of many minds and 
marked and radical differences on questions of 
deepest theological significance, then the larger 
union must be attainable on the same terms and 
the same conditions. We can never be united on 
any creed, whether time or false, which has been 
imposed by external ecclesiastical authority. In- 
deed, have we not come to a clear recognition of 
the fact that conscious individual loyalty to the 
authority of Jesus Christ construed by the indi- 
vidual soul without let or hindrance from any 
ecclesiastical agency, self-established or other- 
wise, must be the only basis of Christian union, 
and that the life of love and consecration born of 
this almost dangerous individualism will give to 
us the united church of the future — each indi- 
vidual soul contributing its voluntary quota of 
passion and power to the carrying forward of the 



72 PROGRESS 

great enterprise of the Master? Love, Loyalty, 
Liberty — a love which the soul knows for itself 
and another may not presume to question — a 
loyalty which is conscious in every fiber of its 
moral being of its own integrity, and which is not 
created or imposed by external authority — a 
liberty that moves unrestrained within the self- 
imposed limitations of the authority of Christ — 
are not these three words at least indicative of 
the way in which we must walk if we shall finally 
attain to the fulfillment of the dream of our 
fathers ? 

Among ourselves we are fast coming to the 
recognition of these principles. Our congrega- 
tional independency is a recognition of the rights 
and liberty of individual souls in matters of faith 
and doctrine and organization. This liberty of 
a local body of believers involves the liberty of 
the individual souls which compose that body. 
If the congregation is to be independent each 
individual in the congregation must be recog- 
nized as independent. There can be no verdict 
on any question rendered by such an independent 
body save by a majority vote of the independent 
community. No convention among us may im- 
pose or exercise any authority whatsoever over 
the local congregation save that which the local 
congregation may authorize by its vote. The 



IMPRESSIONS OF TWENTY YEARS 73 

local congregation cannot authorize the exercise 
of authority in matters of faith and doctrine and 
organization without stultifying congregational 
independency. We shall, therefore, as a people 
never he in danger of the exercise of ecclesiastical 
authority by our conventions or boards until we 
shall surrender by formal vote of the local con- 
gregation our independent congregational life. 
The simple fact is that our conventions whether 
delegated bodies or mass meetings cannot pre- 
sume to put so much as the touch of a little finger 
in the way of authority upon a congregation 
which holds as its very life its spiritual liberty in 
Christ Jesus. 

THE SOLE AUTHORITY 

Certain happenings within this decade among 
us have clearly revealed the sensitiveness of the 
churches of the Disciples to any sort of exercise 
of alien authority. The local church must be 
permitted to work out its own problems of faith 
and order unless we are prepared to commit 
spiritual suicide. Our boards have no other au- 
thority than that given them by the states in 
which they operate to transact the business of the 
church in harmony with the laws of the states. 
In the matter of faith and conscience they may 
not go farther than suggestion, argument, 



74 PROGRESS 

persuasion, appeal and love. We have never had 
any courts or tribunals before which heretics may 
be summoned. The heresy trial is an impossi- 
bility so long as we continue in harmony with the 
genius and constitution of our religious body. 
Public sentiment may relegate the heretic to his 
place of loneliness and leave him without pulpit 
or constituency, but no formal sentence by 
authority of any board among us can be pro- 
nounced. Each congregation in the exercise of 
its own liberty can attend to its own business and 
resents outside interference as little less than im- 
pertinence. And yet with this large liberty there 
is no more marked cooperation in any democracy 
than among the Disciples of Christ. 

Let us turn now from further consideration 
of these well-established principles which have 
come to be settled, unless we shall resign our high 
commission and join the company of those who 
accept "superior and inferior church judica- 
tories." 

Within twenty years we have come into a 
world-consciousness and with our larger field of 
vision and endeavor, trivial thinking has become 
almost an impossibility. We have been swept 
out of our littleness as we have been swept into 
the greatness and glory of the world task. Let 
the swineherd strive with the swineherd. We 



IMPRESSIONS OF TWENTY YEARS 75 

have been called into the larger spaces and sum- 
moned to the heights. The call of the hills and 
the skies and the stars represents something of 
the vastness and majesty and dignity of the 
work of the church of today. We, together with 
others, are giving back response in our great 
missionary enterprises and notably in recent 
years in, the Men and Millions Movement. We 
have within these two decades become conscious 
of the thrill and glow associated with vast 
horizons. The things which hitherto constituted 
the challenge of faith now seem by comparison 
with the larger outlook insignificant and trivial. 
"We have a great work to do and cannot come 
down." 

It is historically true that from the beginning 
of our religious movement we have interpreted 
the meaning of that movement in the light of our 
plea for Christian union. Today we find our- 
selves consistently maintaining this plea as neces- 
sary to the fulfillment of the larger missionary 
outlook which we share with the church universal. 
The evangelization of the world has been aca- 
demically proclaimed by us, in harmony with our 
Lord's prayer, to be dependent upon the union 
of all those who believe in him. That which in 
our earlier years was preached academically is 
now preached with the added cooperation and 



76 PROGRESS 

indorsement of all other religious bodies. The 
divided church today is hearing and heeding the 
prayer of the Master for union in order that 
"the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." 
We are no longer unique in our plea for Chris- 
tian union as necessary to the conquest of the 
world for Christ. We are unique in having first 
called attention to this great truth, so manifest 
in the prayer of the Master, and we are rejoicing 
with others in helping to answer that prayer. 
We were the first, following the sectarian divi- 
sions in Protestantism, to catch the vision. It 
matters little whether others have been influenced 
by us or not. It is a fact that the whole church 
is now sharing the vision and some day it shall 
become reality. 

Let us not be cavilers in the presence of our 
world task. Let us not permit even logical con- 
sistency to keep us from making our mighty 
contribution to this consummation "so devoutly 
to be wished." May we not make some compro- 
mises and concessions for the sake of achieving 
the divine end and purpose of the church, namely, 
the preaching of the gospel to all nations and 
the bringing of the world under the sway and 
dominion of the mind and will of our Lord 
and Savior, Jesus Christ? We shall not be left to 
our own wisdom. We shall count on the actual 



IMPRESSIONS OF TWENTY YEARS 77 

fulfillment in the experience of the divided 
church of that word of the Master, "Lo, I am 
with you all the days, even unto the end of the 
world," which is guarantee of the final fulfill- 
ment of his great commission. It is this promise 
which should keep us steady in the presence of 
discouragements : 

"For all the past of time reveals 
A bridal dawn of thunder peals 
Wherever thought hath wedded fact." 

We await the marriage of vision and reality, 
and it is He — the creator of the vision, whose 
continuous presence is guarantee of the reality — 
who will perform the marriage ceremony. 

Edward L. Powell. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 

\\T E must mean by doctrinal progress merely 
the changes of conviction or of emphasis 
which take place in religious thought rather than 
an approach to any particular goal recognized 
as perfect and final. In religion as elsewhere 
we have come to know that all our goals are 
flying ones, and we freely confess ourselves as 
pilgrims that have not arrived but are following 
on to know the Lord. 

Should we as Disciples conceive our religious 
mission to be the promotion of the unity of the 
people of Christ, still we have no final definition 
of that unity and can not, therefore, make it the 
criterion of our progress. Should we regard the 
restoration of New Testament Christianity as 
the main purpose and end of our being we would 
still be without a measure of progress, since schol- 
arship was never less able than now to tell us just 
what New Testament Christianity was in essence. 
In such a situation it must be with peculiar glad- 
ness that we remember with what humility and 
teachableness our fathers went about their enter- 
prise. From the beginning they had the con- 
sciousness of something tentative and uncertain 
about their venture. They were fresh from their 

78 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 79 

experiences with religious systems dogmatic, 
dictatorial and final ; and they did not, therefore, 
seek to place upon the necks of others a yoke 
which they themselves had been unable to bear. 
They were opposed to the formulation and impo- 
sition of creeds, desiring to be a "party of prog- 
ress and not a sect with its truths and errors 
equally stereotyped." They enrolled as "learners 
in the school of Christ" having, of course, abso- 
lute confidence in the Scriptures as source of life 
and light through the knowledge of him who is 
the way, the truth and the life. Well might the 
Campbells and their associates have said in the 
language of Browning's character, as they laid 
hold upon their Bibles: 

"I press God's lamp close to my heart ; 
Its splendor, soon or late, will pierce the gloom; 
I shall emerge one day." 

They knew not where they were going but 
they heard the call of the open road and 
heeded it. 

SPECIFIC CHARACTER OF THE DISCIPLES' PROGRESS 

The progress which I shall attempt to describe 
in the present essay will be a simple exhibition 
of the curve of thought during the history of the 
Disciples' movement without any effort to round 



80 PROGRESS 

up the results in a formal scheme. Progress is 
registered among the Disciples not by any con- 
sensus of opinion expressed in formal or definite 
action of legislative or governing bodies, but by 
the toleration, appreciation and fellowship exist- 
ing among men of widely variant types of 
thought. The progressiveness of the Disciples 
is seen in their inclusion of varieties rather than 
in their exclusion. At least this is true when the 
Disciples are loyal to their deepest premises, 
though with them, as with others, there are now 
and then individuals who show a tendency to go 
back to the weak and beggarly elements of the 
sectarian world — setting up courts of inquisition, 
adopting creeds and applying catechisms. These 
tendencies, however, are excresences — symptoms 
of disease and not of the health of the body. 

The plan of this essay does not include a 
catalogue of ideas that have been more or less 
generally accepted at various times with refer- 
ence to outstanding doctrines of the Faith, but 
rather a description of the changing conscious- 
ness of the movement with reference to its own 
dominant character and purpose. Changes of 
conviction in relation to special doctrines will be 
noted and estimated only in their bearing upon 
the larger whole of thought and life. This 
method is in accord with the real psychology of 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 81 

such religious movements. Men's minds have 
wrought upon existing constructions of religion 
not because of an idle desire to dissolve and re- 
construct them just for diversion, but because 
they were devoted to certain practical ends in the 
attainment of which such dissolution and recon- 
struction of special doctrines and entire systems 
were apparently necessary. 

THOMAS CAMPBELL 

It is quite unnecessary to describe in detail the 
experiences of Thomas and Alexander Campbell 
through which they were led to abandon their 
denominational connection with Presbyterianism. 
The former through deep disappointment in his 
effort to unite the separate wings of Seceder- 
dom came to embrace with passionate zeal three 
cardinal positions. 

(1) He was confirmed in a righteous hatred 
of religious controversy, sectarian divisions and 
the party spirit which these generate. 

(2) He conceived a deep repugnance toward 
superior ecclesiastical courts far removed from 
contact with the local situation to which their 
rulings were applied. 

(3) His thought was directed toward the 
Bible and it alone as the basis of any possible 
unity among the people of Christ. 



82 PROGRESS 

He saw, or thought he saw, that the causes of 
division were not found in the Scriptures but 
were involved in that portion of the Westminster 
Confession relating to the functions of civil 
magistrates in religious affairs. This was the 
beginning of his break with the Calvinian system, 
and this, be it noted, was not a break with it as a 
doctrinal whole, but rather an unconscious ques- 
tioning of its internal consistency. It was an 
appeal to the Calvinian doctrine of Scripture 
authority as against the particular confessional 
doctrine of the relation between church and state. 
He seems to have thought that the defects of the 
Presbyterian system were not inherent in itself 
but were due to the special circumstances of the 
United Kingdom arising out of the Reforma- 
tion. In a land "where the sword of the civil 
magistrate had not yet learned to serve at the 
altar" he seems to have hoped that the synodical 
form of church government would prove to be 
no bar to union among Christians. In this he 
was doomed to disillusionment. In his efforts 
to promote a better fraternal spirit among the 
various Presbyterian bodies in America he ran 
afoul of the "Secession Testimony" and found 
that his appeal to the Scriptures as against the 
church standards did not constitute a sufficient 
defense. He had come, however, to the irrevo- 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 83 

cable conviction that the church of Christ upon 
earth is essentially, intentionally and constitu- 
tionally one; and that the only way to secure 
that unity is by an exact conformity to the ex- 
press teaching of Scripture in the New Testa- 
ment. Hence the organization of the Christian 
Association of Washington and the promulga- 
tion of the Declaration and Address in 1809. 

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL 

Meantime Alexander Campbell then a mere 
youth had come to the same position as his father 
by a somewhat different route. His brief resi- 
dence in the University of Glasgow had thrown 
him into the company of men and into the midst 
of changes calculated to influence him power- 
fully against the whole Presbyterian system. 
Greville Ewing, the "Father of Scottish Con- 
gregationalism," was the personality that most 
influenced young Campbell, and the Haldanean 
movement which was then in full tide gave him 
a strong bias toward certain of its distinctive 
characteristics. It appears, however, that only 
upon the main point of the reformation led by 
these men was the mind of Alexander Campbell 
permanently decided at this time. He became 
in theory a Congregationalist and was no longer 
able to adhere -to a system of church government 



84 PROGRESS 

in which he did not believe. He could no longer 
recognize the Seceder Church as a church of 
Christ. 

DECISIVE IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH POLITY 

Thus it appears that both Thomas and Alex- 
ander Campbell revolted against what they 
considered a false- and tyrannous system of 
hierarchical government in the church and not 
against any of the cardinal doctrines of the 
Reformed theology. But to their minds the 
matter of Church Order was fundamental in 
Christianity. They did not believe that Christ 
could come to his own while a human system of 
church government stood in place of that or- 
dained by the Master himself. Their remedy 
was a return to the system of Church Order 
practiced in apostolic times and fully described 
in the New Testament. The setting forth of this 
remedy constitutes the burden of the "Declara- 
tion and Address." 

THE DECLARATION AND ADDRESS 

An intensive study of this remarkable docu- 
ment will show that the Disciples' movement was 
conceived and forwarded in subordination to two 
main theological postulates: First, a formal, 
institutional and static view of the Christian 
religion, and second, a legal, prescriptive view 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 85 

of the Scriptures. If one wishes rightly to 
appraise the Declaration and Address he must 
call to his aid the important distinction between 
Faith and Opinion, or, in more modern terms, 
Religion and Theology. Theologically the 
Declaration is a legalistic document in that it 
presents a legalistic conception of the Christian 
religion. It regards Christianity as essentially 
a once-for-all-delivered institutional order of 
"doctrine, worship, discipline and government 
expressly revealed and enjoined in the Word of 
God." "We dare neither assume nor purpose 
the trite indefinite distinction between essentials 
and non-essentials in matters of revealed truth 
and duty: firmly persuaded that whatever may 
be their comparative importance simply consid- 
ered, the high obligation of the Divine authority 
revealing or enjoining them renders the belief 
or performance of them absolutely essential to 
us in so far as we know them." * With refer- 
ence to the legalism of this position a well known 
Disciple writer has recently said: "The effort 
to abolish the distinction between the essential 
and the non-essential, the formal and the spirit- 
ual, and the assumption that the outward form 
is as indispensable as the inward meaning for 
which it stands is one of the earmarks of a legal- 

* Declaration and Address, p. 11. Centennial Edition. 



86 PROGRESS 

istic construction of the Christian religion."* 
When considerd as a religious document, how- 
ever, instead of a theological or ecclesiastical 
manifesto, the Declaration and Address is by no 
means legalistic. It is surcharged throughout 
with the passion of Christian love, and manifests 
the essential characteristics of the permanent in 
religion, namely, justice, kindness and a humble 
walk with God. In view of the time, place and 
circumstances no better document on behalf of 
Christian unity could have been written. Cer- 
tainly no better was written up to that date. 

But at the time no discrimination was or could 
well have been made between the religious and 
the theological character of the document. In 
the heat and rush of the reformatory effort these 
two elements were fused together. The religious 
passion of the author and his associates carried 
them on toward the full development and appli- 
cation of their theological presuppositions. The 
resulting system of Alexander Campbell and 
Walter Scott was legitimate and inevitable. 
The controversial storm and stress period 
through which the movement passed did but con- 
tribute certain details of form; it did not deter- 
mine the essential character of its total aspect. 
That was already guaranteed by the theological 

* J. J. Haley, "Christian Evangelist," 1914, p. 719. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 87 

postulates already mentioned. The appeal was 
ever to the express precept or precedent con- 
tained in New Testament writ. The logic was: 
these things are divine and unchangeable in their 
authority and are therefore of undiminishing and 
permanent utility and worth. The ruling prin- 
ciple during the formative period of the Disciples 
movement was that of conformity to a permanent 
authoritative type of doctrine, polity and wor- 
ship^ They were under the spell of that 
Platonism which in the Hebrew letter says: 
"See thou make all things according to the pat- 
tern showed thee in the mount." 

VITAL TENDENCIES OVERCOMING FORMAL LOGIC 

The story of the further progress of thought 
among the Disciples will consist in tracing the 
manner in which pragmatic religious interests 
have invaded and impaired the formal de- 
mands of the Restoration program. It will 
show how the logic of the movement has in fact 
been: Whatever is effective in realizing the 
divine purpose of love and in promoting that 
abundance of life which Jesus came to bestow is 
divine and authoritative whether it can be sup- 
ported by a text or not. It will show how the 
appeal has ever been made over the head and 
beneath the feet of specific texts and temporal 



88 PROGRESS 

precedents to the deeper and more vital prin- 
ciples of the Faith. 

THE COMMUNION QUESTION 

An interesting example of the manner in 
which the vital character of the Disciples' move- 
ment has been wont to break the shell of its 
formal logic may be noted in the successive 
positions that have been taken with reference to 
the Communion question. For several years 
Alexander Campbell was much troubled over 
what he perceived to be a serious inconsistency 
in the practice both of the Baptist and Pedo- 
baptist bodies. He says: "I have thought and 
thought and vacillated very much on the ques- 
tion whether Baptists and Pedo-baptists ought 
. . . to sit down together at the same Lord's 
table. And one thing I do know that, either they 
should cease to have communion in prayer, praise 
and other religious observances or they should 
go the whole length. Of this point I am cer- 
tain." * "If I can admit an unimmersed person 
once a month for a year to all social ordinances, 
I can for life or good behaviour. When I say, 
I can do so, I mean that all precepts, precedents 
and scriptural reasons, authorize such a course." t 



* Christian Baptist, p. 238. 
t Ibid, p. 528. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 89 

"Where there is a new creature, or society of 
them, with all their imperfection and frailties, 
and errors in sentiment, in views and opinions, 
they ought to receive one another, and the strong 
to support the infirmities of the weak, and not to 
please themselves. To lock ourselves up in the 
band-box of our own little circle; to associate 
with a few units, tens, or hundreds as the pure 
church, as the elect, is real Protestant monkery, 
it is evangelical Pharisaism." * And so Mr. 
Campbell, although in a strait betwixt his Chris- 
tian feelings and his view of the ordinances as 
pre-requisite to communion, was practically con- 
trolled for years by his formal logic rather than 
that of his heart. But from 1837 onward he was 
enabled to take a somewhat different view of 
the subject and to obtain relief for his feelings. 
His solution was that of throwing upon the indi- 
vidual believer the responsibility of coming to 
the communion table. "We find much philos- 
ophy in one of Paul's precepts, somewhat mis- 
translated, 'Receive one another without regard 
to difference of opinion.' We, indeed, receive to 
our communion persons of other denominations 
who will take upon them the responsibility of 
their participation with us. We do indeed in 



* Ibid, p. 238. 



90 PROGRESS 

our affections and in our practice receive all 
Christians, all who give evidence of their faith 
in the Messiah, and of their attachment to his 
person, character and will." * In this position 
Mr. Campbell was further fortified by the re- 
flection that the table is the Lord's and not ours. 
His successors in the editorial office, notably, 
It. Richardson, W. K. Pendleton and Isaac 
Errett followed him and supplemented his posi- 
tion by the use of the passage from I Corin- 
thians: "Let a man examine himself and so let 
him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." It 
became customary to say, "We neither invite nor 
debar." But even from this somewhat non- 
committal position the Disciples have almost 
universally advanced, and are now accustomed 
to say : Let every child of God feel free to come 
to this table of holy memories. 

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 

With this communion question has been closely 
connected the further question of church mem- 
bership. As we have seen already Mr. Camp- 
bell's qualms and vacillations concerning the 
admission of unimmersed Christians to the com- 
munion table extended - also to the matter of 



* Campbell-Rice Debate, p. 785. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 91 

receiving them into full church privileges. In a 
letter to a critic who accused him of Sandemanian 
leanings, or Haldanean proclivities, the Re- 
former seems to range himself in sympathy at 
least with the Haldaneans upon the matter of 
making the question of pedobaptism one of 
forbearance. He does not, however, allow the 
question at this time to become an issue. So good 
an interpreter of Mr. Campbell as his biographer, 
Dr. Richardson, understood him at this early 
period to make no distinction between church 
membership and formal communion at the 
Lord's Table. But as Dr. Richardson states and 
as we have already seen, Mr. Campbell was, after 
some years, able to take a view of the Com- 
munion question which relieved him from the 
practical difficulties of his former position. 

But we have now to inquire why that view did 
not also carry with it a solution of the problem 
of church membership. Would not the prin- 
ciple of self -judgment and self -responsibility 
apply to the privilege of membership in the 
church of Christ equally with participation in 
the Communion of the body and blood of the 
Lord? Which is greater: the Church of Christ 
which he purchased with his blood, or the Table 
on which is placed the symbol of the New 
Covenant in his blood? Are not those whom 



92 PROGRESS 

Christ receives into this holy fellowship of sacred 
memories to be equally trusted with all the priv- 
ileges of the Christian democracy? How did 
Mr. Campbell and those who followed after him 
avoid the obvious conclusion to which these con- 
siderations would seem to lead? Why did Mr. 
Campbell react from his former position and 
make a sharp separation of the two ordinances 
placing them in different planes of privilege? 
The simple truth is that neither Mr. Campbell 
nor any of the leaders of the second generation 
of Disciples were able to make themselves con- 
sistent at this point. In a little known and thus 
far neglected article in the Christian Baptist * 
Campbell attempts to deal directly and decisively 
with the problem. He recognizes the fact that 
the conditions which have made this an issue to- 
day were not present in the apostolic age and that 
hence "little can be said either from precept or 
example" in favor of receiving the unimmersed. 
He fails to say that, for the same reason, as little 
can be said against it. The article does not lend 
itself to quotation in this essay, but the upshot of 
the whole treatment is that we have no right to 
adopt practices that tend to subvert the constitu- 
tional provisions of the Kingdom, t In short Mr. 

*Op. Cit., p. 457. 
f Op. Cit., p. 457. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 93 

Campbell takes refuge in the politico-legal theo- 
logical presuppositions that lie at the foundation 
of the whole movement in its formal aspects, and 
draws the line at church membership rather than 
at the Table of the Lord. 

But there is no principle with reference to the 
admission or non-admission of unimmersed 
Christians into church fellowship which is not 
also involved in their admission to the Lord's 
Supper. It would be just as easy to show from 
Scripture that non-immersed persons were mem- 
bers of the apostolic churches as that they were 
admitted to the Lord's Table. That the church 
is the Lord's and open to all his children is as 
indisputable as that the Table is the Lord's and 
open to all Christians. Mr. Campbell, therefore, 
had left the whole question of Communion and 
Church Membership in a state of unstable equi- 
librium. It became a burning issue again in 1861 
and 1862. Upon the side of Close Communion 
and Close Membership were G. W. Elley and 
Benjamin Franklin. For Open Communion 
though not Open Membership were R. Richard- 
son, W. K. Pendleton and Isaac Errett. Ben- 
jamin Franklin challenged his opponents to show 
from Scripture that there were any unimmersed 
persons admitted to the Lord's Table in the New 
Testament churches. He said that if they would 



94 PROGRESS 

show him "that the Lord has received unbaptized 
persons, pardoned them, and that they are chil- 
dren of God, he will not stop where they do coolly 
refusing to invite or debar them, but will main- 
tain their right not only to commune but to be 
received into the full fellowship of the church." * 
Both Franklin and Elley repeatedly challenged 
their opponents to show why the unimmersed 
should be received at the Lord's Table, and not 
into church membership. It must be confessed 
that Messrs. Pendleton and Errett did not 
respond with any degree of alacrity to the chal- 
lenge. Indeed their replies are palpable evasions, 
as anyone may see who will take the trouble to 
look up the references. t What we are more con- 
cerned to note is the manner in which Errett and 
Pendleton defend the practice of Open Com- 
munion. They do it by appeal to the logic of 
the heart as against that of the head. They 
adduce broad general principles of the gospel as 
against textuary and legal quibbles, just as Mr. 
Campbell had done in the Lunenberg letter and 
in his debate with Rice. § Considerable weight is 
placed, by Mr. Pendleton especially, upon the 
Corinthian passage as the Scripture which par 

* Millennial Harbinger, 1862, p. 298. 

t Mill. Harb., 1862, pp. 131, 258, 261, 184. 

§ Mill. Harb., 1862, pp. 66, 124, 125, 126. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 95 

excellence is applicable to the communion ques- 
tion. Emphasis is placed upon the word "him- 
self" in order to escape the responsibility of 
judging any individual's right to come to the 
table, whereas the emphatic word in the passage 
is really "examine" or "prove." The question 
in the apostle's mind was not that of determining 
a man's right to come to the table as against some 
one who might deny it, but rather of the spirit 
and manner of his participation. To prevent 
this unworthy eating and drinking a man is 
urged to "prove himself." The correct exegesis 
of the passage has been common among the 
Disciples when they have used it against the 
scruples of immersed believers in neglecting 
the table, whereas on the other hand, they have 
quite as uniformly misinterpreted it in relation 
to the Open and Close Communion question. 

DUALISM OF HEAD AND HEART 

A careful survey and estimate of the history 
leads to the irresistible conclusion that there has 
ever been implicit in Disciple thought a funda- 
mental dualism between the logic of the heart 
and that of the head. The head logic has pro- 
ceeded from legalistic premises to static, institu- 
tional conclusions. The heart logic has habitually 

7 



96 PROGRESS 

dissolved and abandoned those conclusions by an 
appeal to the moral and spiritual genius of the 
Christian religion. The appeal has always been 
supported by arguments which to those who pre- 
sented them seemed reasonable and cogent in a 
far larger way than the mechanical consistency 
of the legalistic and institutional view. But if 
there is any escape from this dualism and con- 
stant antagonism they must be discovered and 
abolished at their very source. The effort to do 
this constitutes the latest stage of progress in 
Disciple thought to which I will now devote my 
remaining pages. 

To get the proper perspective necessary to the 
appreciation of this latest development we must 
again go back to Mr. Campbell. With him the 
only essential and fundamental doctrine of the 
Faith was the Messiahship of Jesus. That doc- 
trine and its meaning gave him his whole concep- 
tion of the Christian System.* It carried with 
it of necessity the politico-legal Kingdom idea of 
the Old Testament and of contemporary Juda- 
ism. It also gave Mr. Campbell his view of the 
organization of Scripture which controlled his 
method of interpretation, t The whole Bible was 
viewed from the Messianic standpoint and fell 

* Christian System, p. 122. 

•\ Christian Baptism, pp. 24, 25. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 97 

into Messianic prediction, typology and their 
fulfillment in the New Testament. Thus the 
Old Testament was permitted to impose its 
formal conceptions upon the religion of Jesus 
and to make it a new Law and Institution. 
"Every one who would accurately understand 
the Christian institution must approach it 
through the Mosaic; and he that would be pro- 
ficient in the Jewish must make Paul his com- 
mentator." * By Paul Mr. Campbell meant here 
the writer of the Hebrew letter. Under the spell 
of this document in which are combined the 
rabbinical idea of God's changelessness and the 
Platonic doctrine of ideas, Mr. Campbell devel- 
oped his theology of the Kingdom of Heaven in 
a sense quite different from that which modern 
study is able to derive from Jesus' own religious 
message and from his personal attitudes. The 
grand result of biblical studies in these days is 
that we are able to lay aside both Jewish and 
Greek categories of thought and come directly 
to the personality of Jesus as reflected in the 
Gospels. 

THE DUALISM OVERCOME AT ITS SOURCE 

It is here, then, in a new apprehension of 
Jesus upon the side of his religio-ethical charac- 

* Christian System, pp. 140, 141. 



98 PROGRESS 

ter and purpose rather than his official character 
in the Jewish scheme, and his cosmic character in 
the Alexandrian philosophy, that the present 
phase of progressive thought among the Dis- 
ciples takes its rise. It is in this region if any- 
where that the persistent dualism between the 
heart and head logic of the Disciples is to be over- 
come. For the Disciples are going to be loyal to 
Christ in what they are able to apprehend as the 
determinative center of his personality. It is 
unbearable to them that any glory or honor shall 
be taken away from Jesus, and any failure to 
employ in their ancient sense the Jewish and 
Greek categories that were used to express the 
ancient valuation of him, is due only to the feel- 
ing and conviction that he is more to our thought 
and life than we are able to indicate by the use of 
those first century symbols. When modern 
Christian faith employs such terms as Messiah, 
Son of God, Lord, and the like, it uses them not 
in their original historic meaning but as symbols 
of religious and ethical attitudes. With the 
transcending of these politico-legal and meta- 
physical concepts of him whom we still regard as 
the Master of our spirits and the Captain of our 
salvation, we also transcend and leave behind the 
whole politico-legal conception of the Christian 
religion. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 99 
A MOKE ETHICAL VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY 

The most significant progress that has been 
made during the last quarter of a century relates 
to this new discovery of Jesus, his disengagement 
from the swaddling clothes of the first century 
Messianism and Greek philosophy, and therewith 
the attainment of a more ethical and spiritual 
view of his religion. In the light of this more 
vital view of Jesus, the formal element in Chris- 
tianity takes a more modest place, and a static 
institutionalism gives way before a dynamic 
empiricism. The nature of this deeper and more 
vital apprehension of Jesus will appear in the 
citations which follow, and which are taken from 
the writings of distinguished leaders of Disciple 
thought at the present time. We have the priv- 
ilege, as a recent writer has said, of "apprehend- 
ing Jesus afresh without entangling ourselves 
in the theology of Judaism or the metaphysics of 
Athens or Alexandria." * What this fresh 
apprehension of Jesus contains is clearly 
indicated by the same writer in such passages 
as the following: "When one studies this 
early confession (Peter's at Caesarea) more and 
more he is irresistibly driven to the conclu- 
sion that the first creed of Christendom was not 
a statement of dogma at all, but rather an affir- 

* Mr. F. D. Kershner, Christian Evangelist, 1916, p. 680, 



100 PROGRESS 

mation in regard to the Christ ideal of life. In 
other words, the early convert, when asked to 
believe that "Jesus is the Christ" was asked to 
accept Jesus as his Ultimate Ideal, as his supreme 
Lord and King, as the one whom he pledges 
himself to obey in all things pertaining to life 
and destiny. This of course was to accept his 
divinity, and it is the only practical meaning 
which the divinity of Christ can have for any- 
one." * "Very obviously then, an affirmation of 
acquiescence in His ideal of life ought to consti- 
tute the confession of faith demanded from His 
disciples." t "Upon this great historic creed, not 
as a pronouncement of philosophy, not as a tenet 
of theology, but as a practical expression of a 
desire to live the Christ life, the mighty hosts of 
Christendom will sometime be one." % With 
these statements may be compared similar ones 
from Dr. Edward Scribner Ames whose views 
have been sometimes confused with Unitarian- 
ism, which confusion Dr. Ames has always 
deprecated. "More directly stated, Christ pre- 
sents a problem not for the intellect alone but 
primarily for the will. The question is not, what 
think ye of Christ? But what will you do about 

* Idem, "The Religion of Christ," p. 120. 
f Ibid, p. 121. 
i Ibid, p. 123. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 101 

Christ's example and ideal of life?" * "I am in 
favor of changing the wording of the Christian 
Confession in order to restore the simple New 
Testament meaning of it. Instead of ashing a 
candidate, Do you believe that Jesus Christ is 
the Son of God, I would ask him, Are you will- 
ing to follow Jesus and to do the utmost within 
your power to establish his kingdom of love in 
the world?" t 

While we may well entertain some doubt 
whether believers in New Testament times really 
held so simple and so purely ethical a view of the 
meaning of their confession as Mr. Kershner and 
Dr. Ames indicate, we may yet agree that such a 
meaning was centrally implicit in their total 
view, and that this is the only meaning we can 
practically attach to the confession for ourselves. 
It is encouraging to note this close agreement 
between these two influential thinkers, so diverse 
in many ways, and yet united at this central and 
crucial point from which any real construction 
of Christian thought for our age must proceed. 

LIBERATING RESULTS OF THE NEW VIEW 

When Jesus and our relationship to him is 
thought of in this ethical and personal way, 

* The Divinity of Christ, p. 36. 
f Ibid, p. 37. 



102 PROGRESS 

when the scheme of politico-legal organization of 
religious thought and life associated with the 
older Christology is thus left behind, then the 
way is open for a free development of means and 
instruments for the uses of a large and efficient 
Christian program. For then the question be- 
comes, not what did the Lord say unto Moses; 
not what was the practice of the apostolic 
churches in this, that, or the other particular; 
not how did Paul expound the doctrine of atone- 
ment for the benefit of the Roman world. The 
question is: What do the ideal and purpose 
of Jesus for human life require us to think 
and do in order to their fulfillment in this our 
world? 

In brief it may be said that this new point of 
view is leading us to the inwardizing of the mean- 
ing of all the formal elements of our religion, and 
therewith to the recognition of greater freedom 
as regards the modes in which this meaning is 
symbolized. This principle explains and inter- 
prets such recent phenomena as Mr. Charles 
Clayton Morrison's contention for the "Meaning 
of Baptism," and other like statements. Every- 
where we see Disciple thought and practice 
responding to the demands of an age which has 
accepted in general outline the evolutionary 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 103 

philosophy, and endeavoring to supply such 
interpretations as will guide the process of devel- 
opment in Jesus' way. 

THE SOCIAL INTERPRETATION OF BAPTISM 

To the foregoing changes of method and of 
emphasis the social ideals of our time are power- 
fully contributing. The historic plea of the 
Disciples for the unity of the church is more 
and more shaping itself in social forms. For ex- 
ample the view that Baptism as the initiating 
rite into the Church is not defined by any dog- 
matic or individual meaning of its own, but 
purely as a function of the social organism, i. e., 
of the Church, is conceived under the influence of 
the social movement. That in Baptism which 
makes it an inward thing for the recipient of it is 
his acceptance of the social obligation implied 
in entrance into the fellowship of the church; 
and those who have actually entered that fellow- 
ship are ipso facto baptized Christians, in what- 
ever mode the symbolic act of baptism may have 
been performed. It is therefore urged upon the 
Disciples that the practice of Christian union 
demands the cordial reception of all whom they 
recognize as Christians into membership in their 
local churches. 



104 PROGRESS 

THE SOCIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE CHUBCH 

It is, however, perceived by some that this 
proposal raises the further question as to how the 
church itself is to be conceived in the terms of 
social science. Where is the practical actuality of 
the church to be found? It is to be recognized 
that we are using the word "church" in at least 
three distinct senses. There is the local worship- 
ping body; the religious communion, "religious 
body," or denomination; and the church uni- 
versal, or the body of Christ. Xow from which of 
these conceptions are we to construct our religious 
thought as we try to bring it under social cate- 
gories ? The Churchman will say the latter. But 
all Congregationalists will say that the local 
church is the social unit, and that we should begin 
the socializing of our religious conceptions with 
reference to our actual "face to face" relations 
in the immediate fellowship of the congregation. 
Is there not danger that Disciples in the fervor of 
their social passion and their zeal for an ideal 
unity of the people of Christ, will forget their 
principle of local autonomy and fellowship? As 
a matter of fact some have argued and contended 
for the reception of the pious unimmersed from a 
standpoint practically too individualistic. In so 
doing they have not been consistent with their 
own view of the autonomy of the local church. 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 105 

They have, in effect, urged that the church 
forego a position and a practice which has pre- 
vailed as a matter of conviction during practically 
the whole history of the Disciples' movement, 
and which has acquired the force and character 
of a social custom among Disciple churches. 
The ground upon which this change is urged has 
been that of the character and status of the indi- 
vidual seeking admission, which character and 
status is not affected by the manner of his 
baptism. "We recognize these persons as Chris- 
tians: let us therefore receive them into the 
fellowship of our churches without any further 
test." To very many Disciples at the present 
time this proposal seems to have the authority 
of an axiom. And well it may as long as we 
allow our minds to move in the old individualistic 
grooves. But let us take our social ideal some- 
what more seriously and try to make some prac- 
tical applications. 

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP AND CHRISTIAN STATUS 

Are Christian character and membership in 
the local congregation correlative ideas? Surely 
this is open to question. Christian character 
guarantees citizenship in the Kingdom of God: 
membership in the local church indicates con- 
formity to the social life of that particular 



106 PROGRESS 

religious group. The Kingdom of God is an 
overhead ideal which all Christians hold in com- 
mon and to which they strive to be loyal: the 
local church is a working social group with a 
definite and visible character assumed and main- 
tained with a view to edification and efficiency. 
As such a social group it has rights that are 
paramount over those of any individual seeking 
to become a member of it. No individual has a 
right to ask modification of its social customs in 
order to give him place within it : this would be 
an unsocial attitude. It is his privilege to modify 
the group only from within and by the help of 
like-minded individuals using the orderly means 
of social progress or change. If he wishes to be- 
come a member of the group he should be willing 
to conform to its social customs. If the group 
itself wishes to change its customs and practices 
in accordance with its own ideals and interests, 
that is another matter. 

PRAGMATIC UNIFORMITY 

Much has been said and written with reference 
to uniformity in religious worship and practice. 
Most of us would freely admit that the demand 
for uniformity as it has been urged in the past 
has been extreme and harmful ; but is it not plain 
to the man of any practical wisdom that there 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 107 

is a legitimate demand for uniformity in those 
close relations of "face to face groups" such as 
families, lodges, fraternities, and local churches? 
There should be elasticity enough everywhere, of 
course, to admit of an occasional exception, but 
the multiplication of exceptions means friction 
and weakness. Within these groups all individ- 
uals should conform to custom, to practice, to 
method of cooperation. This is in the interest of 
efficiency, good feeling and growth. It is a prac- 
tical demand, and has good psychological and 
sociological foundations. So far forth, therefore, 
as it has been urged that no church of one par- 
ticular type has a right to intrude its members 
upon a church of a different type, the position is 
a valid one. The demand for conformity at the 
entrance of the local church is altogether a just 
and defensible demand, quite apart from any 
question concerning the original constitution of 
apostolic churches. 

In harmony with these principles it seems to 
the present writer that the line of advance for 
the Disciples and that which, in fact, the move- 
ment is taking is as follows : 

(1) We should recognize the full Christian 
character and status of all who hold the headship 
of Jesus Christ, and seek in sincerity to follow 
him "according to the measure of their knowledge 



108 PROGRESS 

of his will." We should acknowledge them 
as members of the body of Christ if they have 
definitely allied themselves by open profession of 
faith and by entrance into some worshipping 
group of Christian people. 

(2) When such persons present themselves 
for membership in a local church of the Disciples, 
let them be asked to recognize its character as a 
church of Christ in the sense of a local group 
with certain social features, customs, and prac- 
tices. Since this local church freely and fully 
recognizes the ideal authority of the church uni- 
versal as constituted by all who anywhere asso- 
ciate in church capacity for Christian objects, 
let these individuals freely and fully concede 
the practical authority of the group expressing 
its life locally in the congregation, and let them 
conform to its customs and practices. The reason 
there has not been this willingness to conform in 
the past lies in the fact that conformity has been 
urged on a basis that denied full Christian char- 
acter and standing to those seeking fellowship. 
It was urged as a completion of their obedience 
to God in order to acceptance with him, while at 
the same time these persons were conscious of 
full acceptance and could not in conscience admit 
any lack thereof. But upon the basis of these 
social principles presented in the manner indi- 



THE IDEA OF DOCTRINAL PROGRESS 109 

cated the question is removed from the old plane 
of law to that of practical obligation and good 
taste. When once we are freed from legalistic 
and sacramentarian notions of the ordinances, 
and place them upon a purely aesthetic, social 
and symbolical basis we shall find them no longer 
divisive in their influence. 

(3) Under these conditions, if these social 
customs and practices of the particular churches 
have vitality and functional worth they will per- 
petuate themselves by common consent. On the 
other hand if there is anything in them that can 
not be assimilated to the larger ideals of the 
Kingdom of God the group will become aware 
of it and will modify or abandon them. Such a 
course will be in perfect harmony with the his- 
toric position of the Disciples concerning the 
paramount authority of the local church, which 
now turns out, as we have seen, to be good 
sociology. Also upon the basis of their historic 
plea the Disciples will have no difficulty in 
recognizing such churches as shall find it neces- 
sary and desirable to make modifications in 
practice. For these churches would be seeking 
only to be loyal to the leading of the Spirit of 
Christ with reference to that part of the field for 
which they are responsible. The other churches 
in recognizing them would only be practicing 



110 PROGRESS 

socially the precept which Jesus gave to his 
disciples individually: "As ye would that others 
should do unto you, do ye even so unto them 
likewise." This is the alpha and the omega of 
all good sociology, and religion as well. Be- 
lieving as the present writer does in the perma- 
nent worth of the Christian ordinances and in 
the possibility of a vast enhancement of appre- 
ciation of them through the above conceptions, 
he is led to disparage and oppose that treatment 
of them so productive of bitterness and confusion 
throughout the Christian centuries. 

Chas. M. Sharpe. 



NEWER PHASES OF CHRISTIAN UNION 

/ "T*HIS paper does not presume to be an exhaus- 
A tive treatise on the subject of Christian 
union. It will not attempt to set forth the argu- 
ments for it. These are familiar to intelligent 
Christian people, and union is now not only con- 
ceded to be desirable, but is recognized as the 
great compelling problem before the church. 
We shall be content then to set forth the present 
stage of the problem. While the subject in its 
ultimate reach includes all branches of Christen- 
dom, we are here concerned only with Protes- 
tantism. 

If in the past unity has been felt to be a neces- 
sity, the conditions disclosed by the great Euro- 
pean war make it doubly imperative. We now 
see that the problem before the church is vaster 
than we had ever dreamed. In this death- 
struggle of the contesting nations the old civili- 
zation is going down, and we know why. It was 
a house built on the sand. Christ was not exalted 
by the rulers of the earth as the Prince of Peace. 
The diplomats of Europe did not desire this 
Man to rule over them. In the hour of crisis he 
was not consulted; his spirit did not guide. 

ill 



112 PROGRESS 

Instead of the friendship and love which he com- 
manded, jealousy, greed and hatred controlled 
the situation. And as a consequence, today 
humanity finds itself in a trench filled with blood 
and tears. The task before the church is the 
gigantic one of rebuilding civilization. It must 
be apparent to all that to face this task with 
anything less than a united church is futile, — 
we are defeated before we begin. We do not 
know what form this unity will take, nor just 
how it is to be brought about. We are going out 
like Abram of old not knowing whither we go. 

But there are two convictions which guide us, 
the first of which is the absolute necessity for 
unity. This we feel here in the home field where 
we have to develop the resources of a varied popu- 
lation. This task alone demands all the energy of 
a united church. On the foreign field, where 
Christianity faces the solid wall of heathenism, 
the task is intensified and unity becomes more 
imperative. 

When we add to this the present world situa- 
tion, the task of healing the wounds of the war, 
and bringing the belligerent nations together 
again in Christian fellowship, it will take no 
prophet to predict our failure unless all forces 
are concentrated into a mighty working unit. 






NEWER PHASES OF CHRISTIAN UNION 113 

This conviction is gripping the conscience of the 
church more completely every day. Apologies 
for a divided church we rarely hear any more. 
There was a time when the Disciples alone were 
emphasizing Christian union, but now eloquent 
tongues in all bodies are pleading for it. The 
whole Protestant church seems to be in the grip 
of a great movement toward unity. 

The other conviction which guides us is that 
the best preparation for union is the constant 
creation of an atmosphere in which unity may 
grow. We should eliminate everything unfavor- 
able to this atmosphere. We are to keep open 
and expectant minds, holding ourselves, not in 
a condition of dogmatic rigidity but of loving and 
sympathetic fluidity; so that the spirit of unity 
can mold us into whatever form it will. This 
is the great value of all conferences and discus- 
sions upon the subject, in which the emphasis 
is put not upon differences but upon agreements. 
Thus, by "speaking the truth in love, we grow up 
into him in all things, which is the Head, even 
Christ." 

We might leave the subject here and not try 
to forecast a single step which in the providence 
of God we may be called upon to take. Yet it 
may be valuable to re- state the problem in the 



114 PROGRESS 

situation in which we now find ourselves. For 
every year w T e are advancing toward the solution. 
We are getting new light, we are seeing things 
from a different point of view. Just now it 
would seem as if, by the war, Christendom is 
"being led up into an exceeding high mountain" 
and we are getting a vision of the whole prob- 
lem before us more clearly than ever in the past. 
An awful price is being paid for this vision; 
therefore it is the more imperative that we profit 
by it. We now see that the old patriotism was 
too narrow; it was strictly national. In April, 
1816, at a patriotic dinner given in Norfolk, Va., 
Stephen Decatur responded to this toast: — "Our 
country! May she always be right, but right or 
wrong, our country!" That type of patriotism 
is false. No nation can be true to itself that 
does not look beyond itself to the welfare of all 
the nations. The new and higher patriotism de- 
mands that each nation shall seek the good of 
all. Only so can its own good be conserved. 
How much greed and selfishness have been dis- 
guised and baptized in the name of patriotism! 
In like manner we now see that the old spirit of 
denominational loyalty which had such a grip 
upon us, and still has, is too narrow and selfish 
to serve the higher interests of the Kingdom of 



NEWER PHASES OF CHRISTIAN UNION 115 

God. It is sectarianism masquerading under the 
name of Christian loyalty and apostolic regu- 
larity. 

WHAT ARE WE TO DO? 

We are to do what we have been unwilling to 
do hitherto, we are to subordinate the interests 
of the denomination to those of the whole 
church. Just as in our national government the 
interests of each state are subordinated to those 
of the nation, so the highest loyalty to our own 
church demands that we shall think and plan in 
terms of the whole body of Christ. 

Another thing is clear: the old method of 
controversy as a means of approach to unity 
was not only useless, but it was positively de- 
structive to the end sought. Experience should 
teach us the futility of constant debate over the 
petty differences between the churches. Much 
heat but little light has been the sum total of 
result from all this. Not controversy but con- 
ference, which is a very different thing, should 
be our method of approach. No one body has a 
monopoly of the truth. We have much to learn 
from one another. When we confer together as 
brethren, having common interests and a com- 
mon end in view, then the spirit of unity can 
work. 



116 PROGRESS 

It is certain also that unity is not coming by 
the elimination of our points of difference. 
Controversy proceeds upon this theory that we 
must somehow eliminate our differences and get 
down to the residuum on which all can agree. 
But the foundation for unity can never be an 
irreducible minimum. Christendom will never 
consent to be impoverished in any such way as 
that. The basis must rather be a maximum, each 
body of Christians contributing that which is 
distinctive and valuable in its own life for the 
strengthening and enrichment of the united 
church. 

In the past our method of advance has been 
by the process of combining those denominations 
nearest one another in faith and polity. This has 
seemed to us the most obvious method; and our 
efforts in that direction should not be given up. 
But it is now becoming clear that this method 
can only be pursued up to a certain point. In 
the very nature of things we come finally to a 
line beyond which we cannot go. For this 
method requires the complete amalgamation of 
the religious bodies. 

But there are temperamental differences be- 
tween religious groups, differences of taste, to 
say nothing of historic and doctrinal differences, 
which will prevent the complete amalgamation of 



NEWER PHASES OF CHRISTIAN UNION 117 

all the denominations. For instance, our own 
Commission on Unity has had several meetings 
with the Unity Foundation of the Episcopal 
Church. These conferences have been conducted 
in the spirit of utmost freedom. They have been 
enjoyable and profitable, but the nearer we get 
to one another the more does it become apparent 
that the differences between us are irreconcilable. 
Take the matter of baptism; their conception ap- 
proaches "baptismal regeneration." The infant 
is made a child of God in the act of baptism. 
Here, of course, is a chasm between us that can 
never be crossed. Again their conception of the 
church and of the ministry is radically different 
from ours. These things are deep and funda- 
mental. Not only can they not be eliminated, 
but in many cases it would be a mistake to 
attempt to eliminate them. They represent 
elements of richness and variety which we cannot 
afford to lose. Unity must be big enough and 
broad enough to include these differences. 

AFTER THE WAR 

After the war is over it is hoped that the 
nations of the earth can be brought together in a 
great federation, bound up in a common brother- 
hood, with a World Court to regulate the matters 
of interest common to all. In this combination 



118 PROGRESS 

no one nation can be supreme ; all will enter upon 
equal footing. Each will bring its contribution 
for the enrichment of the common whole. It is 
in some such way that we are now beginning to 
think of Christian union. Not by the amalga- 
mation of bodies most nearly related, until at 
last the amalgamation is complete, but rather 
by the merging of the different bodies into a 
great unity in which what is valuable in each will 
be conserved for the enrichment of the whole. 
The church of the future will thus be built with 
material from all quarries. 

We need a churchmanship that is broad enough 
to see that men who hold opposite opinions, men 
of entirely different temperaments and tastes, 
can yet be brought together as fellow- Christians, 
on a common working agreement. A church- 
manship courageous enough to abandon old posi- 
tions no longer tenable, magnanimous enough to 
grant the other man's contention even when you 
do not see what he does in it; prophetic enough 
to discern and master the forces that are waiting 
to be organized into church unity. This unity 
will not be a mere agreement to avoid encroach- 
ing upon one another's sphere of influence, nor 
is it merely a federation upon matters outside 
distinctive church activities. That we already 
have in the Federal Council of the Churches of 



NEWER PHASES OF CHRISTIAN UNION 119 

Christ in America, a most excellent thing as a 
means to an end, but only a half-way house, not 
a terminal. It is not confederacy that we want, 
but federal union. 

Speaking broadly we might sum up the re- 
quirements of such union under three heads, all 
of which are essential : 

(1) It must be organic union, something 
which the world will recognize as such. There 
must be government enough to enable the many 
churches to act as a whole for purposes of the 
whole, without forfeiting any desirable auton- 
omy of the particular church. In our national 
government we have a model to guide us. Here 
is the federal union, composed of all the states 
bound together into one Nation, acting as a unit 
when occasion requires. Yet here are the several 
states reserving to themselves matters of local 
and state interest. Now the churches must be 
linked up in a union that shall be real, that shall 
have one voice and one authority in matters 
relating to the whole Kingdom. But each 
separate religious body will still manage its own 
affairs in its own way. There must be the largest 
freedom and independence possible, consistent 
with an organization that is a unit, and that is 
recognized as such by all the world. 

( 2 ) The ministry must be so validated in each 



120 PROGRESS 

communion that without violation of scruples it 
would be deemed regular for all. This at present 
is not the case. A Disciple or Presbyterian 
minister would not be permitted to enter an 
Episcopal pulpit and administer the ordinances. 
Our method of choosing and ordaining ministers 
has of course been very loose. Indeed we may 
be said to have had no method. It would be a good 
thing for us to be compelled to raise the standard 
of our ministry, and to make the requirement 
more strict. On the other hand, the Episco- 
palians while not giving up their idea of Apos- 
tolic Succession, yet would consent to such a 
modification of it as would be acceptable to all. 
If in the end they should insist that Episcopal 
ordination be accepted no doubt we should sur- 
vive the process. 

(3) There must be also an exchange of mem- 
bers upon certain agreed principles of regularity. 
The very principle of unity is based upon the 
truth of this proposition. We are uniting Chris- 
tian bodies whose members are disciples of 
Christ. We have a common Lord, a common 
gospel and a common goal. The great Father of 
us all gives evidence of our acceptance by grant- 
ing all alike the fruits of the Spirit. Certainly 
in the face of the great issues at stake the Dis- 
ciples will not jeopardize unity by insisting 



NEWER PHASES OF CHRISTIAN UNION 121 

upon their own dogmatic interpretation in mat- 
ters where there is room for conscientious differ- 
ence. A certificate of membership in any one 
church must be valid and acceptable in any 
other. 

These three things, it would seem, are funda- 
mental, and yet within the range of possible 
agreement at this time. 

HOPEFUL SIGNS 

For the furtherance of these principles the 
most hopeful thing on the horizon at present is 
the World's Conference on Faith and Order pro- 
posed by the Episcopal Church. Generous indi- 
viduals have contributed considerable sums to be 
used in the interests of Christian unity. With 
this money a commission in the Episcopal 
Church began laying plans for a world con- 
ference. Last year they sent over a deputation 
of ministers to carry the message of unity to 
the non-conformist churches of Great Britain. 
These were received most cordially, not only 
by the non-conformist churches, but by the 
Anglican brethren as well. The war has inter- 
fered somewhat with the plans of this Confer- 
ence, but already over forty Christian bodies in 
all parts of the world are engaged in this joint 
enterprise. Others are coming in gradually, so 



122 PROGRESS 

that the movement is now representative of the 
whole English-speaking race. What this Con- 
ference will do no one can predict. The call 
expressly says that it is exclusively for "the 
purpose of study and discussion, without power 
to legislate, or to adopt resolutions." The call 
further says, "We believe in the one people of 
God throughout the world. We believe that now 
is a critically hopeful time for the world to be- 
come Christian. We believe that the present 
world-problems of Christianity call for a world 
conference of Christians. But before confer- 
ence there must be truce. The love of Christ for 
the world constrains us to ask you to join with 
us and with his disciples of every name in pro- 
claiming among the churches throughout Chris- 
tendom a truce of God. Let the questions that 
have troubled us be fairly and clearly stated. 
Before all indifference, doubt and misgivings we 
would hold up the belief that the Lord's prayer 
for the oneness of his disciples was intended to 
be fulfilled ; and that it ought not to be impossible 
for men of various temperaments and divergent 
convictions to dwell together on agreed principles 
of unity." 

In speaking of this Conference Dr. Newman 
Smythe says, "It will be a sort of re-assessment 
of Christian values held by the several churches. 



NEWER PHASES OF CHRISTIAN UNION 123 

Not an attempt to level distinctions down to dull 
uniformity. Not a futile effort to throw a bridge 
of words over differences which are deeply 
wrought in human nature, or to refuse to see 
principles which stand out in logical antithesis 
against one another. It is the broader view, the 
higher churchmanship which beholds these ra- 
vines, mountains and all as belonging to one 
country and inter-connected by common paths 
as the realm and home of the people of God." 

In spite of all the uproar and confusion of 
these days, a solemn stillness has fallen upon the 
world. We are feeling instinctively the tremen- 
dous weight of the task before us. Can the 
warring nations be reconciled to one another? 
Will Christianity prove equal to this gigantic 
task? The Day of Judgment has come and who 
can abide the day of its coming? If its un- 
quenchable fire does not burn up our religious 
vanities, and separate the essential from the non- 
essential, there is no hope for us. But we believe 
there is vitality enough left in the church to 
discern in this day of judgment also a day of 
high opportunity. 

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
wrote in troublous times. It seemed to him that 
everything was going to pieces. But he comforts 
his readers with the thought that temporal things 



124 PROGRESS 

were being shaken in order that eternal things 
might be established. May it be so now. Out of 
this awful conflict may Christ come to his 
supreme place as King of Kings and Lord of 
Lords. This can only be through a united 
church. Certainly the Disciples of Christ born 
in the spirit of unity and its champions for a 
hundred years, will rejoice to see their great 
mission advanced by any agency and the time 
approaching when there will be "one flock and 
one Shepherd." 

James M. Philputt, 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 

'HpHE development of the modern city has been 
a nineteenth century phenomenon. At the 
beginning of that century, Alexander Campbell 
was riding on horseback through the middle west, 
because this was the way to reach the great 
majority of the people. Less than five per cent 
of the population lived in cities at that time. The 
new census which will be taken in 1920 will show 
a majority of Americans living in cities. 

The facts are very startling with reference to 
the territory which contains the six states wherein 
most of the Disciples' strength lies. The growth 
of population in Illinois between 1900 and 1910 
was 817,041. Of this, the cities over thirty thou- 
sand claimed 574,857 and the smaller cities and 
rural districts 252,684. The growth in Indiana 
between 1900 and 1910 was 184,414. Of this 
growth, 122,473 was in cities of over thirty thou- 
sand and 61,941 was in the smaller cities and rural 
districts. The growth of population in Ohio dur- 
ing the same period was 609,576. Of this, the 
cities of thirty thousand and over claim 450,251 
and the remainder of the state 159,325. In Mis- 
souri, the growth in the same period was 186,670, 
and of this four cities of over thirty thousand 

125 



126 PROGRESS 

show gains of 182,778 leaving a growth in the 
rest of the state of only 3,892. In Kentucky, in 
this period the state gained 142,731 of which four 
cities claimed 40,267 and the remainder of the 
state 102,464. Iowa is the most astonishing 
example of the tendency. The state is pre-emi- 
nently agricultural and there was a loss during 
the ten years of 7,082. This loss would have been 
much greater had not five cities of over thirty 
thousand gained in population 56,072. The net 
loss in population in the state outside these cities 
was 63,154. 

It is well known that many county seat towns 
of from two to thirty thousand in population have 
made significant gains during this period. It is 
clear, therefore, that the population on the farms 
in the middle west has actually decreased during 
the period. 

IMPROVED METHODS IN AGRICULTURE 
AND THE CITY 

Since 1910 this tendency has been continuing. 
The gasoline engine has been successfully 
applied to the tasks of agriculture. The tractor 
is doing the plowing for vast sections, and less 
of the grain of the farms is being fed to horses. 
The gasoline engine and small machinery have 
made the individual farmer more independent of 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 127 

large gangs such as were so often needed with 
the machinery of the past. It is safe to prophesy 
that a further loss will be shown in the rural dis- 
tricts for the period of 1910 to 1920. 

Yet such figures do not show the full signifi- 
cance of the facts to the ordinary evangelical 
church in this section. The old-time native 
American stock is in many communities being 
superseded by the immigrant. The death of the 
churches in many villages and cross-roads is not 
so often due to lessened religious interest as to a 
change of character in the population. The new 
group on the farms want Catholic and Lutheran 
churches instead of Disciple and Methodist. 

This problem in the middle west is but a small 
part of what is in reality a world movement. 
Josiah Strong notes the growth of big cities in 
these arresting words: "London is probably two 
thousand years old, yet four fifths of its growth 
was added during the past century. From 185.0 
to 1890, Berlin grew more rapidly than New 
York. Paris is now five times as large as it was 
in 1800. Rome has increased fifty per cent since 
1890. St. Petersburg has increased fivefold in a 
hundred years. Odessa is a thousand years old, 
but nineteen-twentieths of its population were 
added during the nineteenth century. Bombay 
grew from 150,000 to 821,000 between 1800 and 

9 



128 PROGRESS 

1890. Tokio increased nearly 800,000 during the 
last twenty years of the centuiy ; while Osaka was 
nearly four times as large in 1903 as 1872, and 
Cairo has more than doubled since 1850. Thus 
in Europe, Asia and Africa we find that a redis- 
tribution of population is taking place, a move- 
ment from country to city. It is a world 
phenomenon." 

MODERN CITY THE RESULT OF ECONOMIC FORCES 

The economic forces that underlie this redis- 
tribution of population are worthy of under- 
standing. They are chiefly three, though there 
are many lesser causes. The first is the applica- 
tion of machinery to agriculture. Four men can 
now do the work that was formerly done by four- 
teen and the ten men who are released from farm 
labor have no choice. They are literally driven 
from the farm to the city, since the possibility of 
food consumption is limited while the consump- 
tion of manufactured goods is unlimited. The 
second great factor is the use of power machinery 
in manufacturing. Most of the operations which 
were formerly done by hand (note the etymology 
of "manufacture") are now done by automatic 
machines which are power driven. Men are 
employed to make these machines and to tend 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 129 

them, and the machines require the organization 
of men in factory groups so that specialization 
of labor may further increase the output. The 
third great fact is the railroad. In China, 
economic goods are still carried on the backs of 
coolies. This method of transportation makes 
the building of large cities difficult and their 
maintenance more difficult. The railroad, how- 
ever, by facilitating exchange between city and 
country, has still further increased the possibili- 
ties of living in the large cities. 

The lesser causes for the growth of cities are 
numerous. A few of them may be noted. Men 
have always been gregarious and have disliked 
living alone. The American pioneer did not 
originally like the Daniel Boone kind of exist- 
ence. It was economic necessity that drove him 
to live on a farm ten miles from the nearest 
neighbor. Men will seek the herd-life of the 
city if economic hindrances do not intervene. 
Modern science has also helped to make city life 
possible. Plumbing and medical science have not 
only prevented the plagues that periodically 
swept cities in the past ; they have even made the 
city a safer place in which to live than most farms 
are. The city with its superior cultural advan- 
tages makes a great appeal to aspiring souls in 



130 PROGRESS 

the country, and the rural districts continue to 
leak at the top. 

DISCIPLES BECOMING A CITY PEOPLE 

Though the efforts of the Disciples of Christ 
to introduce their propaganda into the cities have 
been sporadic and often ill-advised, yet the nat- 
ural drift of things has made them already a city 
people. Rev. G. A. Hoffmann, who has rendered 
some excellent service in collecting statistics of 
the Disciples, though not always satisfactory in 
his interpretations, has rightly protested against 
certain representations in the 1917 Year Book of 
the Disciples which characterize this body as a 
rural people. He says: 

"The Year Book presents an investigation as 
to whether 'the Disciples of Christ are a rural 
people.' It presents its conclusion, which is that 
82 per cent, of the churches of Christ are in the 
open country or in towns less than twenty-five 
hundred population. This is no doubt true, but 
it may be quite misleading. It is likely, at least, 
to create a wrong impression. Take the State 
of California. There are 33,337 members. Of 
these, 23,771 live in cities of twenty-five hundred 
or more population, and only 9,566 in places of 
twenty-five hundred or less. According to the 
Year Book, 50 per cent, of the churches are rural, 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 131 

while, according to membership, only 29 per cent, 
are rural. In Pennsylvania there are 38,014 
members. Of these, 27,727 live in cities, and only 
10,287 are rural, or in towns of twenty- five hun- 
dred or less. 

"The Year Book shows that 62 per cent, of 
churches are rural, but in members only 27 per 
cent. Ohio claims 102,806. Of these, 63,999 are 
in the cities of over twenty-five hundred popula- 
tion, This is 63 per cent, in cities, while the Year 
Book puts only 30 per cent, of the churches 
there. Missouri has more country churches than 
any other State. The Year Book claims 88 per 
cent, of the churches are in the rural class. Of 
the 142,880 members, 46,296, or 34 per cent., 
live in the cities. But this is sufficient. These 
four States represent all classes of States. And 
while, as the Year Book states, 82 per cent, of 
the churches are in the country or towns of twen- 
ty-five hundred and less, more than 52 per cent, 
of our members live in cities of twenty-five hun- 
dred population or more." 

Not only are the Disciples now in the cities in 
as large a percentage as is the population gen- 
erally, but their growth is relatively so much 
larger there that they are destined in the near 
future to be still more a city people. In twenty- 
five years the growth of the Disciples in the broth- 



132 PROGRESS 

erhood as a whole was 85 per cent. In the cities it 
was 290 per cent. We can do no better than to 
allow Mr. Hoffmann to tell the story of his 
researches in this matter: 

FACTS OF DISCIPLE CITY GROWTH 

"In this connection, I wish to call attention 
to the growth of the Disciples of Christ in forty 
of the leading cities in our country. The statis- 
tical report of 1891 showed a membership for 
the entire country of 660,630. The Year Book 
just out (1917) shows the membership to be 
1,186,062. The following table gives the num- 
ber of churches and members in forty leading 
cities at the two periods of 1891 and 1916, and 
shows the growth of twenty-five years. In Cin- 
cinnati, suburbs are included. 

No. of Churches. No. of Members. 

Name of City. 1891. 1916. 1891. 1916. 

Akron, 1 7 200 2,429 

Atlanta, Ga 3 10 690 2,576 

Baltimore, Md 1 4 633 2,456 

Bloomington, Ills 2 5 697 2,675 

Buffalo, N. Y 1 7 300 2,084 

Chicago, Ills 6 24 1,060 5,107 

Cincinnati, 11 23 2,957 6,067 

Cleveland, 6 11 2,052 6,412 

Columbus, 2 8 821 8,590 

Dallas, Tex 2 10 1,100 2,915 

Detroit, Mich 1 7 854 1,901 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 133 

No. of Churches. No. of Members. 

Name of City. 1891. 1916. 1891. 1916. 

Denver, Col 5 6 1,255 2,289 

Des Moines, la 3 13 1,500 8,679 

Ft. Worth, Tex 1 7 500 2,120 

Indianapolis, Ind 9 20 2,339 8,104 

Joplin, Mo 1 4 210 1,830 

Kansas City, Kan 1 10 220 2,692 

Kansas City, Mo 6 19 2,199 11,528 

Lexington, Ky 4 10 1,600 4,684 

Louisville, Ky 9 18 3,300 5,294 

Los Angeles, Cal 2 25 600 5,684 

Memphis, Tenn 2 5 400 1,583 

Nashville, Tenn 7 7 2,000 1,502 

New York City. 5 8 744 1,681 

Oklahoma City, Okla 1 7 60 2,375 

Omaha, Neb 2 3 190 1,484 

Pittsburgh, Pa 10 24 1,793 7,365 

Portland, Ore 2 7 182 1,877 

Richmond, Va 3 5 1,300 3,087 

San Antonio, Tex 1 7 171 1,001 

Seattle, Wash 1 10 210 1,622 

Spokane, Wash 1 8 200 2,721 

St. Joseph, Mo 3 7 995 2,253 

St. Louis, Mo 4 15 1,119 4,564 

Tacoma, Wash 1 6 165 1,255 

Terre Haute, Ind 1 6 550 2,365 

Toledo, 2 4 178 2,217 

Topeka, Kan 1 6 335 1,835 

Washington, D. C 1 , 8 600 2,830 

Wichita, Kan 3 4 545 2,643 

Totals 129 395 35,834 187,326 

"This shows a gain in these forty large, repre- 
sentative cities of 206 per cent, in church organi- 
zations, and a gain of nearly 290 per cent, in 
number of members in these churches. In addi- 



134 PROGRESS 

tion to the above forty cities, I find there are 
about fourteen hundred which have from one to 
five congreations, and would mostly come under 
the head of city churches, because they have 
twenty-five hundred or more. Many of these 
city churches have also made very large gains in 
the last twenty-five years. In fact, the indica- 
tions are that the gains in these churches are 
equal to or greater than in the forty cities above, 
which was 290 per cent. But the gain in the 
whole brotherhood is from 660,630 to 1,186,062, 
or 85 per cent." 

As we have already stated, the country districts 
tend to be supplied with immigrants who, up to 
the present time, have shown but little interest in 
evangelical forms of religion, while the older 
American stock is going to the cities. 

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CITY CHURCH ARISE 

These people have carried their country 
churches to the metropolis and have often found 
it a difficult and relative uncongenial soil in which 
to plant their religious institutions. The decline 
of the church in certain of the great metropolitan 
centers has been of a most appalling character. 
During the period 1890 to 1906, the Protestant 
churches gained in their percentage of the popu- 
lation in cities except in New York and Pitts- 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 135 

burgh. In New York, at the beginning of the 
period, they had 10.44 per cent of the popula- 
tion while at the close, they had 8.55 per cent, of 
the population. In Pittsburgh, in 1890, they 
had 18.04 per cent, of the population while in 
1906 they had 16.90 per cent of the population. 
Since 1906, however, certain other cities such as 
Chicago tend to show a lessening of Protestant 
growth, and it has been stated by representa- 
tives of both the organized Sunday school forces 
of Chicago and the organized city mission forces 
that the cause of Protestantism in Chicago has 
not been growing in the last few years. The 
great growth of the Disciples has been in cities 
of the second class. 

These facts demand from the Disciples a dif- 
ferent interpretation of the difficulties of work 
in such cities as Chicago and New York than 
that usually given. Theological issues are either 
relatively unimportant or work in the opposite 
direction from that sketched by certain reaction- 
ary critics. 

DIFFICULTIES IN CITY CHUECH WOEK 

What are the causes of the difficulty of 
Protestant work in the great cities? They are 
to be found in several important conditions. 

In Chicago over seventy-five per cent of the 



136 PROGRESS 

population are either foreign born or are the 
children of the foreign born. This gives to 
Roman Catholic and Lutheran groups a natural 
strength and to the native American churches 
relative weakness. It is true that English speak- 
ing evangelical churches now have large numbers 
of the children of these immigrants in their Sun- 
day schools and some of them in the churches, 
but it is too early for this process to have worked 
out its final results. At the present time the tide 
of immigration increases the difficulties of work 
in the large cities. 

The materialism of the city tends to break 
down the ideal influences. Especially is this true 
in the new city where men must deal so much 
with brick and mortar and paving blocks. When 
city neighborhoods grow older, they will demand 
again the things of the spirit, perhaps, but just 
now materialism is enthroned. The skyscraper 
towers over the church. 

Vice and crime are also city influences that are 
unfavorable to religious development. In a city 
like Chicago where there are seven thousand 
saloons and one thousand churches, the disparity 
of influence is keenly felt. The Committee of 
Fifteen reported that the expenditure in houses 
of prostitution in Chicago in a single year was 
$5,400,000. These are but two of the many vices 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 137 

which are directly opposed to the church in the 
great city. 

The influences that lead to crime are also pow- 
erful. There has been such an increase in mur- 
der in Chicago that the reputation of it has 
reached round the world. The vicious influences 
continue their deadly work until at last the victim 
ends at the gallows or in the felon's cell. 

The problem of the home in the city is an 
urgent one. The great number of divorces 
granted is a significant evidence of unrest in the 
home-life. The home is less stable than in the 
country, and for a number of reasons. There are 
the homeless rich who move from north to south 
with the seasons and who have so many homes 
that they have none at all. There are the home- 
less poor who, under the whip of economic neces- 
sity, move frequently with the changes in the la- 
bor market. The theater and the cheap novel 
unsettle the ideals of the city-dweller with regard 
to the permanency of the marriage bond. What- 
ever tends to unsettle the home, tends to make 
the task of religion more difficult. 

Political factionalism and corruption in the 
city set standards of honesty that are contrary to 
Christian ethics. A considerable number of men 
become imbued with the idea that it is not "prac- 
tical" to be a Christian. A community whose 



138 PROGRESS 

leaders are low-grade politicians is a difficult 
place in which to build virile churches. 

INDIVIDUAL SALVATION AND SOCIAL 
REDEMPTION 

The old time country church planted in the city, 
preaching nothing but the gospel of individual 
salvation finds itself powerless in the face of all 
the evils that are to be found in large cities. 
Though the tendency is for members of evangeli- 
cal churches to go to the cities, yet they have often 
found it hard to maintain successful churches in 
this environment. The great number of small 
struggling churches in a metropolitan city com- 
pared with the few out-standingly successful 
ones is an eloquent testimony to the footlessness 
with which Christian enterprise has been con- 
ducted in days gone by. There are four dis- 
tinct types of city church which have grown up 
in more recent times in response to actual con- 
ditions. 

The first of these is the family church. Often 
it is maintained by means of rented pews. Its 
members are families with children. Since it is 
difficult to rear families in the center of the city, 
these family churches are always on the move 
with the growth of the city, being pushed farther 
and farther out. Financially these churches are 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 139 

the easiest to maintain. They prove inadequate, 
however, as soon as the neighborhood changes 
to a boarding house neighborhood. The pre- 
eminent activity of the family church is religious 
education. 

The church that remains after the families 
move out is the boarding house church. This 
kind of church is not able to rent pews. It de- 
pends upon continuous and vigorous advertising, 
for its constituency is more fluid than the family 
church. Its ministry is of a type to develop sen- 
sational preaching, for only the unusual sermon 
will attract the young man and woman away 
from the theater on Sunday night. In some sec- 
tions this kind of church is endowed. If it is able, 
as the First Congregational Church of Chicago, 
to build up a great musical organization, it can go 
on with its work more successfully. 

SOCIAL METHODS IN THE CHURCHES 

When this boarding house church comes to be 
more aware of its neighborhood, it will no longer 
depend upon sensational preaching or a musi- 
cal program to keep itself in the good graces of 
the people. In the same sort of environment, 
there has grown up the socialized church, which 
is the successor to the "institutional" church. The 
socialized church does not, like the "institutional" 



140 PROGRESS 

church, take over bodily a set of activities that 
have been tried somewhere else, such as a gym- 
nasium, but studies its neighborhood for oppor- 
tunities to serve that particular neighborhood. 
The socialized church will never be quite the same 
in two communities, for two communities are 
never entirely alike. In the socialized church, 
the dominant interest is social service. 

So far we have been talking of regular church 
organizations which either with or without endow- 
ment have been able to maintain their independ- 
ent existence. There are, however, neighbor- 
hoods in the large cities which are not able to 
support their own religious institutions. They 
have neither the money nor the leadership. It is 
into such communities that the city missionary 
society goes with missions, settlements and poly- 
glot churches. 

The mission is the older idea. It does rescue 
work in the midst of the wreckage of a great 
city. Such a place as Pacific Garden Mission in 
Chicago represents the type. The message is of 
the simplest sort. There is some effort in the 
better rescue missions to rehabilitate the men 
who come forward in the meetings and get them 
to work. 

The mission for a foreign race, such as the 
Chinese, is supported by a city mission society 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 141 

and often goes on with a program which is many- 
sided, especially when managed by the larger 
Protestant bodies. Chicago has a work for Chi- 
nese organized on a union basis and financed by 
six denominational city mission societies. 

In some city communities there are but few 
individuals of a given nationality and these are 
already well started toward Americanization. 
Here it is possible to develop a polyglot church 
with a single Sunday school in English for the 
children and several services in different lan- 
guages during the day for the different racial 
groups. This polyglot church tends in the end to 
become a church that does its work entirely in 
English. 

The social settlement sometimes operates with- 
out any specifically religious propaganda, as does 
Hull House, but more often it is an institution 
like Christopher House of Chicago where the 
settlement activities look toward cultivating 
interest in a Sunday school or other religious 
service on Sunday. 

COOPERATION AMONG CITY CHURCHES 

All of these types of city church indicate an 
effort on the part of people trained for the most 
part in country churches to adapt religion to the 
changed conditions of city life. No one can say 



142 PROGRESS 

where the process of change and adaptation will 
end. There are certain congregations which seem 
to be very successful in carrying on religious work 
in the city. Other congregations will be com- 
pelled to study these, in order to see what ele- 
ments of strength they possess which may be 
utilized in an evangelical program. 

A marked feature of recent development in 
the religious life of cities is in the direction of 
comity and cooperation. There is need of coop- 
eration among congregations and comity among 
the denominations in the field. 

The students of McCormick Theological Sem- 
inary were recently set to the task of making a 
survey of territory around the seminary. They 
found members of two Presbyterian churches in 
one family and members of four Presbyterian 
churches in a single city block. Four different 
Presbyterian pastors go to this block to make 
pastoral calls. The department which has been 
supervising the survey has called attention to the 
wastefulness of this condition. In denominations 
with loosely jointed machinery, two congrega- 
tions are sometimes fomid at work within two 
blocks of each other, each struggling to cover 
the field. The Roman Catholics prevent this 
by authority from the bishop. Evangelical 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 143 

churches hope to establish reasonable parish lines 
by arbitration and agreement. 

DENOMINATIONS WORK TOGETHER 

The comity of the denominations is now pre- 
venting much friction and waste. The Coopera- 
tive Council of City Missions in Chicago is doing 
a type of work which in many cities is carried on 
by the Federation of Churches. The Cooperative 
Council is composed of official delegates from 
the city mission boards of the city. The six 
denominations that cooperate agree that they will 
not enter new territory without conference. Dis- 
agreements in territory already entered are arbi- 
trated. New sections of the city are studied and 
recommendations are made for certain denomina- 
tions to enter and follow up their people who 
have gone to these sections. The Cooperative 
Council has served also as a clearing house of 
methods and by means of its efforts standards 
have been established for city mission work. 

So far we have dealt with religion in the city as 
a sociological phenomenon. The study of the 
city mind in religion would also prove illuminat- 
ing. It is significant that certain denominations 
which are weak in the country are strong in the 
city and vice versa. This is not always to be 

10 



144 PROGRESS 

explained as the result of social forces. The city 
mind is different from the rural mind. The 
Christian religion in great cities will tend to show 
a variation that will put it more in harmony with 
this city mind. 

It would be presumptuous to dogmatize thus 
early as to the kind of religion the city man 
wants. It is clear, however, that the religion of 
the individualist will meet a smaller demand in 
the city. The religion that moves men in the 
mass will be the important thing. 

The city mind tends to despise obscure provin- 
cial movements of a religious character. Suc- 
cess and progress are two words that go far with 
the city man in the choice of a religion. He will 
not stand by a lost cause as will the man of the 
country, nor will be rejoice in static types of 
religious life. 

The city mind has but little interest in denom- 
inationalism. People pass continually from one de- 
nomination to another with no better reason than 
that they "have friends in another church." The 
doctrinal statements of a denomination are largely 
out of date and the last stand of denominational- 
ism is the difference in social or cultural levels 
supposed to inhere in certain denominations. 

The religion of the city man of the future 
will have in it great enthusiasms, deep loyalties to 



TENDENCIES IN CITY RELIGION 145 

causes that are modern, and it will have a new 
ethics consistent with city life. Out of the storm 
and stress of the city life may come a belief in a 
God who struggles with us and whose battles are 
real battles. 

It is premature for the enemy to triumph over 
the evident weakness of the city church of today 
or for the saint to deplore its defeat. The mod- 
ern city cannot live without religion. In the 
teeming life of metropolitan centers will arise a 
fresh interpretation of Christianity which will 
seize New York and Chicago with the power that 
Christianity once had in the imperial city of the 
Roman empire. 

Orvis F. Jordan. 



THE CHURCH AND HER ALLIES 

'THE main function of the church is to inspire. 
Her message is great and vital. Her ideal is 
the brotherhood of man linked up to a faith in 
the Fatherhood of God. By preaching and by 
prayer and by the rituals and symbols of devo- 
tion she is ever calling the minds of men away 
from secular and material ends to spiritual satis- 
factions. She holds the mirror up to nature. 
This, her fundamental task, is age long and 
world wide. The church cannot leave the word 
of God to serve tables. 

But tables must be served. Shall it be medi- 
ately or immediately, by her own or through 
allied organizations and agencies? Through the 
latter unquestionably. 

The church speaks for the ages. Her voice 
reflects the will of the Eternal. How aloof the 
teachings of the Master seem from all the social 
and political problems of his time and yet how 
fateful have these very teachings been to the evil 
practices of men. 

Some are lamenting the fact that almost all 
social, educational, and charitable matters have 
been taken over by other agencies. They claim 
that by reason of this the church has lost prestige. 
But is it true? 

146 



THE CHURCH AND HER ALLIES 147 

In this day of wide ranging movements for 
social betterment the church finds itself insuffi- 
ciently organized for service along special lines. 
In the matter of charity for instance, the church 
may and will to some extent always give alms. 
Once she was the almoner to the world. But 
now charity is a science. Applicants are investi- 
gated, the ignorant and inefficient are advised 
and strengthened in purpose, employment is 
found, infant children are cared for while 
mothers go out to work, the sanitation of the 
house is looked after, the children's teeth and 
throats are examined, and many other things are 
done, which only specialized agencies can do. 
The church can and does inspire men to do these 
things, but she cannot herself do them. 

Once the church was the fostering mother of 
education. Through a millennium of time she 
rendered invaluable service to mankind by keep- 
ing the flame of learning alive. Schools and 
universities were of her founding and ordering. 
The church still has her hand upon education 
in no small way. But the age of science has 
come. Specialization has supplanted the old 
systems. Schools have been largely secularized, 
and those that are now under direct control of 
the church look not to the church for their 
standards but to modern educational leadership. 



148 PROGRESS 

The church indeed always will have its very 
important part to play, in the moral and social 
ideals of education. This is her work and well 
is she performing it today. No respectable seat 
of learning can be found which has not been shot 
through with the passion for human uplift and 
consecrated social service. But to control educa- 
tion is no longer possible or desirable. 

THE CHURCH THE SOURCE OF POWER 

The church supplies or at least supports the 
motives back of all social service. Many of the 
most efficient agencies come directly from re- 
ligious initiative and are supported by religious 
people. The money of the church very largely 
fills their treasuries. Were the church to cease 
to exist, or were it possible for her to withdraw 
her influence from them, they would wither and 
die. They are all upheld by a deep religious 
idealism. 

The church stands for temperance but is not 
a temperance society. The church stands for 
charity but is not a charity organization. The 
church incarnates the spirit of the Good Samari- 
tan, but her house of worship is neither a hospital 
nor a dispensary. The church stands for justice 
between labor and capital, for business righteous- 
ness, for political purity, but she cannot label 



THE CHURCH AND HER ALLIES 149 

herself a Reform Party. The church stands for 
democracy but she cannot become a Socialist 
Club. The church is above party, and must 
avoid entangling alliances. However her voice 
is not silent. She is to cry aloud and spare not, 
as did the Hebrew prophets. Those who belong 
to the church are found active along the far 
flung battle line of progress waging a good war- 
fare, but they must not take the Ark of the 
Covenant out into the battle. 

Our Lord used various symbols to set forth 
the method by which Christianity was to influ- 
ence life. One of these was leaven. Christianity 
is a social ferment. It works from within. Its 
action is silent and unseen. Its effects only are 
visible. Where the gospel goes there is agita- 
tion, upheaval, social service, the struggle for 
justice. The church is back of, and absolutely 
essential to, the power of the Social Movement. 
But its ministries must continue to be mainly to 
the inner life. Social workers sometimes fool- 
ishly desert the church, but they find out in time 
that they need the church and usually return. 
The church needs the social worker, and should 
not envy his or her devotion to a particular 
cause just a little removed from direct church 
activities. 

So in this modern world, we find life complex 



150 PROGRESS 

and diversified. More and more the church must 
revert to her original function of bearing testi- 
mony to the truth, "as it is in Jesus." Great 
ecclesiastical establishments are becoming use- 
less. Like Noah's ark they float but they 
reach no port. It is a marked sign of the times 
that men are becoming less and less slaves to 
party or sect. In the political life of the nation 
we have witnessed within the past few years a 
very remarkable independency. Henceforth 
leaders must write in their platforms what the 
people want, and give every assurance that they 
mean to carry it out if they wish to get the sup- 
port even of their own party. The people are 
disposed to hold them to a strict accountability. 
The worship of party, and party symbols is pass- 
ing away. Men no longer worship and serve 
the creature more than the creator. Organiza- 
tion is a means not an end. When it ceases to 
function serviceably it is allowed to die. This 
fact, obvious enough in business, in politics, in 
moral reforms, and only somewhat less so in 
education, is bound to be more and more true of 
the church. Instead then of the church being 
shorn of power by this inevitable law of progress, 
she will come into augmented power and dignity. 
Her duty will be simple and plain. Her min- 
isters will be prophets. Her pastors will be true 



THE CHURCH AND HER ALLIES 151 

shepherds, and not shepherd dogs barking at the 
heels of people in response to every alarm. 

The social allies of the church are not rivals 
to be envied but offspring to be loved and 
cherished. The service which men and women 
render through them is just as religious as though 
it were done at the very altar itself. 

THE CALL OF THE KINGDOM 

It is claimed that the fine red-blooded young 
men are today attracted to other lines of Christian 
service and away from the ministry. Never fear. 
They are all God's ministers, doing his will on 
land and sea, in hospitals and camps, in city 
vslums, and lonely deserts. If the ranks of the 
ministry are thinned for the time being it is not 
due to the fact that other lines are calling, or 
that the ministry is poorly paid. Social workers 
are paid less, educators are paid less, mission- 
aries are paid less, but these all find a joy in their 
service. They are buoyant and happy, and this 
is part of their reward. Life has a sheen and a 
glory that more than compensates for all their 
sacrifices. When the ministry of the Word is 
seen to be what it originally was, and what it is 
again coming to be, good men will find it as 
water finds its level. The trouble with young 
men of the right qualities selecting the Ministry 



152 PROGRESS 

as a calling has been that it is thought of as one 
among several professions which may be chosen ; 
and in addition to that, it has not been very clear 
just what it is that one is to do when he presents 
himself for work. He is confronted with so 
many and such different kinds of duties that 
he is bewildered. He must have a hand in 
all kinds of organizations, run on all sorts of 
errands, keep the people in a good humor with 
himself, and preach to their delight from Sunday 
to Sunday. It all seems to the well bred, high 
visioned young man as a vague and risky proposi- 
tion. With uncertain duties and still more uncer- 
tain tenure, he often turns away. 

Let the church make way for men who are not 
choosing a profession but who are hearkening to 
the voice and impulsion of duty. Let these men 
be what the Master said they were to be, "fishers 
of men." Give them freedom from conventional 
and credal restraints, that their passion for 
service be not bound, and uphold them as they 
set forth the great ideals of the Kingdom. Then 
will there be no lack of men for the preaching of 
the Word, for it will be a joyous service. 

Believing then that the church should not be 
too closely linked up with the temporary and 
changing forms of effort, but should stand back 
of them to discern the signs of the times and feed 



THE CHURCH AND HER ALLIES 153 

the souls of men with the bread of life, we wel- 
come the great organized and diversified forces 
that make for moral progress as essential and 
God given. 

The roster of the social allies of the church 
is long and only the more conspicuous can be 
mentioned. Perhaps the outstanding one among 
them all is the organized opposition to the liquor 
traffic. The fight in the United States has been 
waged for a long time. Many movements have 
taken shape on the side of temperance, such as 
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the 
Anti- Saloon League, the Prohibition Party, and 
so on. They are beginning to see of the travail 
of their soul. A tidal wave of prohibition is now 
sweeping the country. It is a war against the 
gates of hell, and these shall not prevail. It 
abates nothing from the glory of the church that 
special organized effort, supported by industrial 
and commercial interests, have seemed to bring 
victory. 

Our gospel has taken on another form of 
expression in social settlement work. Then there 
are the Salvation Army, the Volunteers of Amer- 
ica, and other agencies in human uplift. The 
Humane Society doing away with cruelty to 
children and dumb animals must by no means be 
omitted. Legislation has come to the rescue, 



154 PROGRESS 

especially in the matter of child labor laws. We 
now have Bureaus of Charity replacing the hap- 
hazard methods of old time church almsgiving by 
careful scientific investigation. We have boys' 
and girls' clubs doing a commendable work. The 
Young Men's Christian Association, its kindred 
agency the Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion, have done marvelous things for moral uplift 
and have taught the church new and better 
methods of approach to the hearts of people. 
The modern sanitation propaganda is most 
valuable and receives the cooperation of Chris- 
tian people very widely. The Anti-tuberculosis 
Society is especially deserving of mention. It 
may be said that many of these things are not of 
church origin, but of scientific and secular im- 
pulse. What matters it? It all belongs to the 
splendid idealism of that gospel which prophe- 
sied the coming of a new heavens and a new 
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. It is all 
done in obedience to the great command "Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The State 
itself by force of religious sentiment has been 
moved to do Christian things. 

It is not here meant that the church shall be 
too far removed from the practical agencies of 
life. Very close up to them indeed ought she to 
be always. There are no hard and fast lines 






THE CHURCH AND HER ALLIES 155 

to be drawn. Her eyes should ever be open to 
human needs, her heart warm to help the dis- 
tressed. Her main service, however, is to create 
and keep alive in the souls of men those great 
ideals for humanity which are implicit in the 
teachings of the Master. 

Allan B. Philputt. 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE AND POLITICAL 
REFORM 

TXiTHEN Jesus, answering a criticism, said: 
"The Sabbath was made for man, not man 
for the Sabbath," he stated a principle of such 
commanding importance and far reaching sig- 
nificance that the world has only begun to grasp 
it. People have always been interested in things, 
in institutions ; but only recently have they begun 
to be seriously interested in each other outside 
the range of certain group relations. A new 
conviction has laid hold upon us as to the intrinsic 
value of man, and we are beginning to realize 
that the end of all our activities is man's develop- 
ment. Moreover we have become profoundly 
conscious of the fact that no man liveth to him- 
self. He lives in relation to others ; he has vital 
connections. As Dr. Peabody puts it: "A 
separate individual is an abstraction not known 
to experience." 

ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT 

The new social movement, while it had its 
inspiration and beginnings earlier, in the work 

156 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 157 

of such men as Maurice and Kingsley, Ruskin 
and Carlyle, Lamennaius and Mazzini and 
Tolstoi, began to take form and receive expres- 
sion during the last quarter of the nineteenth 
century. The new science of sociology came 
into prominence, social settlements and institu- 
tional churches became increasingly numerous, 
and there was an evident missionary awakening. 
Among the pioneers in America who deserve 
mention were such men as Washington Gladden, 
Josiah Strong and Richard T. Ely, who, as 
Rauschenbusch says, "had matured their thought 
when the rest of us were young men, and had a 
spirit in them which kindled and compelled us." 
During this period a steady stream of literature 
in periodical and book form began to issue from 
the presses of both Europe and America. 
Among the books which appeared and were 
widely read may be mentioned those of Darwin, 
Huxley and Spencer. Kidd's "Social Evolu- 
tion" was published in 1894, Henry George's 
"Progress and Poverty" and Giddings' "Prin- 
ciples of Sociology" were published in 1896, 
Webb's "Industrial Democracy" in 1897, and 
Molloch's "Aristocracy and Evolution" in 1898. 
The leading universities began to offer courses 
in sociology, and various independent societies, 



158 PROGRESS 

such as the London and the American Socio- 
logical Societies, were organized. 

ORGANIZATION AND LITERATURE 

The American Institute of Social Service was 
organized in 1898 with the late Josiah Strong as 
its president. Its purposes were set forth as 
follows: "To gather from all possible sources, 
facts of every kind which bear on social and 
industrial betterment; second, to interpret these 
facts by ascertaining their causes and effects thus 
gaining their real significance ; and third, to dis- 
seminate the resulting knowledge for the educa- 
tion of public opinion." Very early in the 
twentieth century there appeared such works as 
"The Social Control," by Ross; "The Social 
Problem," by Hobson; "The Scope of Sociol- 
ogy," by Small; "The Theory of Prosperity," 
by Patton, and "Principles of Western Civiliza- 
tion," by Kidd. A little later Prof. James' 
"Pragmatism" was published, and there followed 
very shortly such works as Schuller's "Studies in 
Humanism" and McDougal's "Introduction to 
Social Psychology." In 1904 Peabody's well 
known book, "Jesus Christ and the Social Ques- 
tion," appeared, and a little later Rauschen- 
busch's books, "Christianity and the Social Cri- 
sis" and "Christianizing the Social Order" were 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 159 

published. These obtained at once a wide read- 
ing, and were almost epoch making in their influ- 
ence, especially upon American churches. 

THE CHURCHES HAVE BEEN ACTIVE 

It has seemed to some that the churches have 
been slow to respond to the new appeal, but the 
record discloses the fact that, while the churches 
as a whole have been slow to adjust themselves 
to the tasks presented by the new awakening, its 
leaders have been alert and progress has been 
notable. As early as 1887 the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church formed an "Association for the 
Advancement of the Interests of Labor." "The 
Brotherhood of the Kingdom," whose early 
members were Baptists, was formed in 1893. 
The Presbyterian Church won a pre-eminence 
"which all may envy, but which none will grudge" 
when it established its "Department of Church 
and Labor" in 1903. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church, after being memorialized in every Gen- 
eral Conference since 1892, honored itself when, 
in 1908, the committee on The State of the 
Church presented "a brave and outspoken report, 
culminating in a kind of Bill of Rights for Labor, 
and ending in a splendid summons to all the 
militant forces of this great church to do their 
part in the pressing duty of the hour." Other 
li 



160 PROGRESS 

bodies, like the Congregationalists, Disciples of 
Christ, Unitarians and Universalists, because of 
their form of organization, having no central 
bodies through which to speak, have been slower 
to issue statements defining their positions, but 
their leaders have not been indifferent to the 
problems presented. 

The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ 
in America was organized in Philadelphia in 
1908. In its initial meeting no session created 
so profound an interest as that devoted to "Social 
Service," and a pronouncement was adopted 
with striking unanimity and enthusiasm which 
reiterated, with slight changes for all the 
churches represented, the "Bill of Rights" pre- 
viously adopted by the Methodist Conference. 

CHURCH LEADERS ALERT 

Since that time the subject of social service 
has received attention in nearly all the great 
denominational gatherings. Commissions have 
been created by many of the leading religious 
denominational bodies in this country and in 
England, and in many instances programs of 
activity have been adopted that give evidence of 
a new awakening. If the masses of Christian 
people are still indifferent or lethargic the 
leaders, at least, are alert and are untiring in 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 161 

their efforts to awaken the churches to the full 
consciousness of the implications of the social 
gospel, and arouse them to enter open doors of 
opportunity for the service of humanity. Con- 
gresses and conferences are being held at 
strategic centers to study the problems of city 
and country life, and ministers as well as men in 
other professions and in business are being 
brought face to face with their social tasks as 
never before. 

Manifestly it would be impossible to catalogue 
all that has been achieved in the past two decades 
as the result of the social awakening. I shall 
attempt only to mention a few reforms that have 
been at least begun in the several fields where the 
activity has been the greatest. 

THE NEW INDUSTRIAL PHILOSOPHY 

In the field of industry, where the struggle 
has been long and bitter, notable advance has 
been made. As indicating the spirit of the move- 
ment I quote from the New International Year 
Book, 1915, the following statement: "Since 1900 
there has come into common use the term Social 
Economics to distinguish a new point of view for 
the study of economic problems. This point of 
view lays special stress on the humanitarian 
aspects of industry. It holds with Ruskin that 



162 PROGRESS 

'There is no wealth but life.' It consequently 
lays stress upon the more just distribution of 
wealth, upon the dangers of industrial occupa- 
tions to health, life and limb, and upon the social 
importance of raising wages and elevating the 
standards of living and of unskilled labor. It 
consequently contrasts sharply in many respects 
with the traditional viewpoints of economists and 
business men which assumed that the end of 
economic effort was to increase the volume of 
production, especially the volume of export. 
The new viewpoint largely rejects therefore the 
laissez faire doctrine and relies on investigation 
of conditions and their causes, education and 
legislation as means of raising the life values of 
the industrial population." 

INDUSTRIAL REFORMS 

Prompted by this spirit every phase of the 
labor problem has been studied with patience 
and painstaking care. The question of wages has 
been examined, not alone from the standpoint of 
what industry is able to pay but from the stand- 
point of the laborer's economic and social needs. 
The question as to how many hours out of each 
twenty- four a man may be required to work at 
any given task, with advantage to his employer 
and a due regard for his own intellectual and 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 163 

moral, as well as physical well being has been 
raised, not by partisans alone, but by men inter- 
ested in humanity itself. Investigation has 
shown that men and women in factories and 
shops have, in the past, been subjected to injury 
or disease or both with little regard for conse- 
quences. This situation has been greatly 
changed. Safety devices have been applied to 
machinery, adequate light and ventilation have 
been provided for places where men and women 
are compelled to spend the long working hours 
of the day or night. Adequate compensation 
for injured workmen is being provided by many 
industries. "There is," says a writer in a recent 
magazine, "a new industrial philosophy abroad, 
which breaks with the idea that a death-toll is a 
necessary part of every human achievement. 
Nothing is so valuable, economically, as the man. 
To injure or to kill him is to destroy the one 
essential element in the scheme of world-wide 
civilization and prosperity." 

WOMEN AND CHILDKEN IN INDUSTRY 

The agitation against employment of children 
of tender years, especially when they are 're- 
quired to work under unwholesome conditions, 
has been very pronounced in recent years and 
has resulted in the enactment of many legal 



164 PROGRESS 

restraints. An age limit has been fixed at which 
children may be employed, and, in some in- 
stances, where the work is regarded as inimical 
to health or morals, the law prohibits the employ- 
ment of children of any age. Utah forbids 
the employment of children under the age of 
fourteen in or about places where tobacco is sold 
or in any pool room. Wyoming forbids the 
employment of children under eighteen years in 
breweries, saloons or concert halls; or under 
fourteen as messengers to such places. Pennsyl- 
vania provides that eight hours out of every 
fifty-one working hours per week for children of 
ages from fourteen to sixteen must be devoted 
to vocational training wherever facilities exist. 
An appropriation of $1,000,000 was made to 
provide suitable schools. In most of the states 
where laws have been enacted at all, the number 
of hours per day and per week in which children 
may be compelled to work has been prescribed. 
Compulsory school attendance laws have been 
enacted and everywhere there is evidence of a 
determined purpose to safeguard and develop 
the lives of children. For several years the 
passage of a national child labor law, to regulate 
interstate and foreign commerce has been agi- 
tated. Various bills have been presented and, 
while nothing definite has been accomplished as 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 165 

yet, the matter is sure to receive further attention 
in the near future as the cause is worthy and 
interest in it is widespread and determined. 

In keeping with this program of reform the 
problems connected with women in industry have 
received careful consideration. Inquiry has been 
made as to its effects, not alone upon the women 
who work but upon the home, upon posterity, 
upon morals and upon industry itself. Thirty- 
two states and the District of Columbia now 
limit the working week of females to sixty hours 
or less; two have a sixty- three hour week; five 
have a ten-hour day with no restriction for the 
hours per week. The ten-hour day is rapidly 
being reduced. 

REFORMS IN CIVIC AND POLITICAL LIFE 

When we turn to the more general field of 
civic and political life we witness the same spirit 
of progress. Everywhere there is evidence of 
social solicitude. In the cities attention is given 
to sanitation and health as well as to education 
and morals. Congested districts are being inves- 
tigated and relieved; unsanitary tenements are 
being condemned and destroyed; provision is 
being made for parks and play grounds where 
the people of all classes and all ages may find 
rest and recuperation under trained supervision. 



166 PROGRESS 

Pure food laws have been enacted and are being 
enforced. The milk and water supplies are 
carefully guarded and thus every effort is being 
made to conserve the health and life of people. 

DEALING WITH DELINQUENTS 

In the care of the poor, the unfortunate and 
the delinquent scientific methods have been ap- 
plied with happy results. Charity organizations 
under trained leadership are at work in all the 
larger cities and in an increasing number of 
smaller cities, investigating conditions, finding 
employment for the unemployed, rehabilitating 
families that have been broken up by poverty or 
other causes, and generally ministering to the 
relief of the needy. Literally the hand of death 
has been stayed and epidemics and contagions 
that hitherto have exacted their annual toll of 
thousands of lives are gradually being brought 
under control and in some instances overcome. 

A complete change of sentiment has taken 
place regarding the treatment and care of the so- 
called criminal classes. A regime very much 
more humane than was formerly in operation has 
been introduced into city and state penal insti- 
tutions. Parole laws are in effect in many states 
and the honor system has been tried with satis- 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 167 

factory results over a wide territory. The city 
of Cleveland has demonstrated what may be done 
in handling a city's delinquents with a view to 
restoring them to society and reestablishing them 
in their own self-respect. Instead of the old, 
dingy, often unsanitary, jail where men were 
crowded together to learn vice from each other 
and to plot against society, there is now the open 
country side with its out-of-door work and that 
degree of freedom which is intended to awaken 
the nobler sentiments of men who, for one reason 
or another, have fallen under the ban of the 
law. 

In 1899 Illinois established a children's court. 
The experiment proved so satisfactory that sim- 
ilar courts have been established in many states. 
The advocates of such a plan of dealing with 
juvenile delinquents contend that the "condition 
of the child must be considered rather than the 
majesty of the law." They are more interested 
in seeking out and remedying conditions than in 
conducting technical trials. 

PROGRESS OF PROHIBITION 

The war that has been waged against the 
manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages 
has been long and relentless. There have been 



168 PROGRESS 

times when those leading in this reform have felt 
discouraged, when victory seemed remote if, 
indeed, it could ever be achieved. But in recent 
years the tide has turned and phenomenal prog- 
ress has been made in every part of the civilized 
world. War measures have been adopted in the 
warring countries of Europe which have operated 
to greatly reduce the use of intoxicants in those 
countries. Prohibition has been made effective 
over ever widening areas in the United States 
until previous to the election in 1916 nineteen 
states had driven the open saloon from their 
borders and vast areas of other states had become 
"dry." As the result of the last national election 
the laws relating to the liquor traffic in many of 
the prohibition states were strengthened and their 
scope widened. Four additional states entered 
the "dry" column and two, besides these, elected 
governors and legislatures pledged to enact state 
wide prohibition. Since the election several of 
the states have had the matter under considera- 
tion. The legislature of Indiana passed a state 
wide prohibition act and the legislature of Texas 
came within two votes of passing a similar act. 
Besides this a decision of the Supreme Court of 
the United States has been announced upholding 
the Webb-Kenyon law which prohibits the ship- 
ment of liquor into dry territory. This decision 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 169 

is everywhere recognized as the most sweeping 
victory the cause of prohibition has ever won. 

THE FIGHT CONTINUES 

Under the inspiration of these recent victories 
the fight to make the United States a saloonless 
nation by 1920 continues with unabated vigor, 
and new victories are announced with increasing 
frequency. Various measures were before the 
last congress and laws were passed prohibiting 
the manufacture and sale of liquor in the District 
of Columbia, extending prohibition to Alaska 
and Hawaii and prohibiting the use of the mails 
for circulating liquor advertising in dry terri- 
tory. Resolutions were submitted both in the 
House and in the Senate providing for the sub- 
mission of a prohibition amendment to the Fed- 
eral Constitution but while reported favorably 
they were not acted upon. The Anti- Saloon 
League in charge of the campaign proposes to 
press the matter of submission partly as a war 
measure in the present extra session of congress 
and there is hope that it will be acted upon favor- 
ably, but if it is not plans have already been made 
for continuing the fight until the victory is won. 
The willingness of the President to prohibit the 
manufacture of distilled liquors as a war meas- 
ure, for the conservation of grain, is a notable 



170 PROGRESS 

step toward national prohibition. The world 
is aroused upon the subject as never before and 
the temperance forces everywhere are organized 
to push their campaign to victory in every civ- 
ilized country. 

THE SOCIAL EVIL 

Following closely in the wake of the prohibi- 
tion movement another reform is enlisting the 
forces of righteousness. In the United States 
and in Europe a persistent and effective attack 
has been made upon the social evil in all its forms. 
The vigor of this reform is shown by the variety 
of its manifestations. Numerous investigations 
into the nature and extent of this evil have been 
made during recent years by civic commissions 
and other organizations, as well as by individuals. 
These investigations have shown the appalling 
extent of the evil and the utter inefficiency of 
the old method of dealing with it. 

Providing segregated vice districts with police 
protection and medical supervision is no longer 
regarded, in informed circles, as a method 
worthy of recognition, and cities generally are 
discarding it. Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, 
Kansas City, Des Moines, Savannah, Baltimore, 
Los Angeles and Portland are known to have 
abolished their red-light districts, and a fight is 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 171 

being waged against them with varying degrees 
of success in many other cities. It is reported 
that at the end of 1915 New Orleans and San 
Francisco were the only large cities in the United 
States where publicly acknowledged red-light 
districts were maintained, and it is known that 
in the latter of these cities a successful campaign 
against the continuance of the district has been 
in progress for some time. The Supreme Court 
of the State of Texas announced a decision 
early in 1916 to the effect that no chartered city 
in the state could legally prescribe or maintain a 
segregated vice district. Everywhere the exper- 
iment has been tried the verdict of those in- 
formed as to its results has been that the method 
of suppression is much more effective than the 
method of regulation. 

LAWS AGAINST WHITE SLAVERY 

In recent years the federal government has 
placed upon the statute books laws designed to 
abate the traffic in innocent young girls, which 
had grown to considerable proportions, and re- 
cently the Supreme Court of the United States 
rendered a decision with reference to the White 
Slave act which settles a question as to its scope. 
It makes those who transport women from one 
state to another with a view to immoral relations 



172 PROGRESS 

subject to the penalties which the law imposes. 
The reform has only begun, and, while consider- 
able literature has been published, it is difficult 
to obtain exact data with reference to results 
achieved. It is evident, however, that the new 
spirit will neither sanction nor tolerate any- 
trifling with this monster evil, the blighting and 
destroying effects of which have come to be so 
generally known. 

THE PROMISE OF PEACE 

The movement for universal peace, while it has 
received temporary checks because of the present 
European war, nevertheless gains strength and 
becomes more insistent. The war itself, terrible 
and disheartening as it is, promises to be the 
means of hastening the day when men shall beat 
their swords into plowshares and their spears into 
pruning hooks. It is becoming increasingly evi- 
dent that the present world conflict is a war to 
end war. Many men and women of prominence, 
officially and morally, including the President of 
the United States, an ex-president and an ex-sec- 
retary of state are open and avowed advocates of 
policies looking toward permanent peace among 
the nations. The slaughter of human beings in 
masses in the interest of alleged national rights, 
selfishly conceived, will not always be tolerated. 



SOCIAL SOLICITUDE 173 

There is a saner, better way for nations as well 
as individuals to settle their differences, and 
surely, though perhaps slowly, we shall learn that 
way and follow it. 

CONFLICTING EMOTIONS 

When one thoughtfully reviews the situation 
as it presents itself today he is likely to be swept 
by two conflicting emotions. One is the emotion 
of despair. The surveys that have been made 
and the work that has been undertaken serve to 
reveal the herculean proportions of the task be- 
fore us. Instinctively one asks : Is it possible to 
enable men to realize their kinship ? Will people 
ever become so adjusted to each other that peace 
and good will shall be the lot of all? Will the 
Kingdom of God ever be established on the 
earth? At times the tendency to pessimism 
is very great. But this emotion is met by 
another, — the emotion of hope and confident 
courage. Something has been done and much 
more is certain to be done. Progress may be ever 
so slow, still there is progress. In business, in 
industry, in civic and political life generally 
there is a recognition of the intrinsic dignity and 
worth of man such as has never before been felt. 
Just at present the European war is shaking the 
foundations of the old civilization, and is exacting 



174. PROGRESS 

a horrifying toll of human life. But it is 
always darkest just before the dawn. Under the 
very shadow of the cross, which to the disciples 
meant the defeat of all their hopes, Jesus talked 
about the time when the Son of man should 
come in the glory of his Father, and with the holy 
angels. And he added: "There are some here 
of those that stand by who shall in no wise taste 
of death until they see the kingdom of God come 
with power." There is reason to belive that the 
world is now in the birth throes of a new and 
better day. With Robert E. Speer we may say 
"Christ is moving out over the earth with ever 
enlarging agencies, with ever increasing success, 
with open and undiscouraged purpose to win the 
world." And with Longfellow we may sing, 

"And Him evermore I behold, 
Walking in the midst of the world, 
Through the cornfields waving gold, 
In hamlet, in wood and wold. 
By the shores of the beautiful sea 
He toucheth the sightless eyes, 
Before Him the demons flee, 
To the dead He sayeth, 'Arise!' 
To the living, 'Follow Me!' 
And that voice still soundeth on, 
From the centuries that are gone, 
To the centuries that shall be." 

Perry J. Rice. 



EVANGELICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE 
SOCIAL TASK OF THE CHURCH 

COCIAL Service is, in part, a new name for an 
^ old thing — practical philanthropy. But it is 
more than that: it is philanthropy become thor- 
oughly self-conscious, organized and on the way 
to becoming scientific. It represents a new 
emphasis on the social, other-regarding virtues, a 
new interpretation of the ethical ideal in terms 
of our fellow man rather than ourselves ; so that 
while "self-realization" may still be spoken of 
as the highest good, it is pointed out that the 
self is itself a social construct whose very being 
depends upon its relation to other selves and 
whose well-being depends upon its right relation 
to them. Social Service is new also in its compre- 
hensiveness. The old philanthropy was largely 
restricted to "works of charity," which again had 
to do more with the treatment of symptoms than 
organic conditions: the new ideal would widen 
the scope of the word charity until it covered all 
disinterested efforts to better any sort of human 
condition, and at the same time seek to remove 
causes rather than alleviate effects. Social Serv- 

175 

12 



176 PROGRESS 

ice, again, is to be distinguished by its thorough- 
going democracy. It has robbed charity of its 
caste and condescension. It has stripped My 
Lady Bountiful of her silks and satins and bid- 
den her live among the poor in social settlements. 
It has robbed My Lord Benevolent of his '"'grand 
air" and told him to be just in his business and 
clean in his political affiliations. Its ideals, in 
a word, are humanitarian just like those of the 
old philanthropy; but its methods are those 
of the ballot-box, the mass-meeting, the scien- 
tific investigation, the public playground, 
the Juvenile Court, the Civic Improvement 
League, etc. 

To illustrate in a concrete way the sweep of this 
new idea — or new interpretation of an old idea — 
let me give you a list of subjects taken from the 
programme of a recent meeting of the Social 
Service League of one of our states — "Orphan- 
age and Dependent Children," "Reformation 
and Juvenile Courts," "Illiteracy," "Child Labor 
and Factory Conditions," "Prisons," "Feeble- 
Minded and Eugenics," "Legal Reforms and 
Criminal Procedure," the "Liquor Problem," 
"Xegro Problem," "Problem of Health," "Im- 
provement of Rural Life." Contrast these with 
your charity meetings of a few decades ago, and 
you will at once see the long road we have trav- 



IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL TASK 177 

elled from the old Christmas-basket, soup-ticket 
type of charity. 

RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF SOCIAL SERVICE 

Taken in the sense just indicated Social 
Service is a purely humanitarian programme and 
carries no specifically religious implications. But 
there is a form of this ideal which rests on 
religious presuppositions and receives at once its 
inspiration and its guidance from the religious 
principle. I refer to Christian Social Service, 
and it is of this, I would write particularly here, 
with special reference to its more distinctly evan- 
gelical implications. 

He must be blind indeed to the signs of the 
times who does not see that "Social Service" has 
come into Christianity to stay. This is an age of 
fads in religion and the number of new "move- 
ments" heralded as panaceas for the world-old 
problem of unregenerate hearts, are as legion as 
the devils they would cast out. But Social Service 
is not a fad. It is the coming to full self -con- 
sciousness of an ideal which has always been more 
or less active in Christianity — the ideal, namely, 
of the kingdom of God on earth, being simply 
that raised to its highest power, and made to 
function with the greatest possible efficiency. 
There are, indeed, those who look askance on it, 



178 PROGRESS 

as tho' it were something "tacked on to" the old- 
time religion — something which Christianity 
could conceivably do without. But that is wholly 
to mistake its significance. People used to think 
the same about "missions." They said — and one 
still occasionally hears their belated voices : "We 
don't believe in missions"; as tho' Christianity 
were not a worldwide mission, and one could be 
a Christian at all without having the missionary 
spirit! So with "Social Service." It is just the 
missionary spirit carried out to its fullest conclu- 
sions, its ultimate implications. It is the endeavor 
on the part of the church to permeate every rela- 
tionship of life with the principle of the cross. 
It is Christ in the church under twentieth century 
conditions, saying to every eager questioner, as 
He did to John the Baptist : "Go, and tell John, 
the things which ye hear and see: the blind 
receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers 
are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are 
raised up and the poor have good tidings 
preached to them." 

SALVATION A SOCIAL CONCEPT 

The same conclusion is forced upon us when 
we consider the real nature of salvation. There 
can be no doubt that until quite recently salva- 
tion has been thought of in too individualistic a 



IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL TASK 179 

fashion. To get one's own selfish, narrow soul to 
heaven after death was the chief end of man. 
Faith was the act whereby one was enabled to 
"Read his title clear to mansions in the sky," con- 
ceived after the pattern of a brown-stone front in 
a very exclusive neighborhood. 

The religious life of the old evangelical type, 
was a sort of Little Jack Horner business : — 

Little Jack Horner sat in his corner 
Eating his Christian pie; 
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum 
And says, "What a Good boy am I !" 

Good works, of course, were expected, but they 
were of the negatively righteous, rather than posi- 
tively benevolent kind, and never quite purged 
themselves from the taint of ^//-righteousness 
and ^//-security. Hunt through the average 
hymn-book, and you will find on a conserva- 
tive estimate that 98 per cent, of the hymns strike 
this individualistic note and betray hardly any 
consciousness of the social meaning of the gos- 
pel.* The same is true of the preaching of the 

*"The average hymn-books!" But as a sign of the coming 
dawn, the Surrey Associates, Incorporated, have published "One 
Hundred Hymns of Brotherhood and Social Aspiration" (1914), 
a large number of which are contained in the new "Hymn and 
Tune Book," published by the American Unitarian Association, 
while the new Disciples' hymnal, "Hymns of the United Church" 
(Christian Century Press) under the general heading of "The 
Kingdom of God" contains nearly a hundred hymns of the same 
social import. 



180 PROGRESS 

past and much of it even yet. But we are 
to-day witnessing a wonderful change in the best 
thought of the church concerning the meaning of 
salvation, which is now being interpreted more 
or less in social rather than individualistic terms ; 
and just as Martin Luther rediscovered the doc- 
trine of justification by faith, so, the church of 
to-day is rediscovering the practical, social and 
humanitarian implications of salvation as Jesus 
Himself conceived it. 

Now, this Christian type of Social Service has 
certain features which distinguish it from the 
secular, non-religious (I do not say anti-religi- 
ous) type of which we spoke at the beginning. 
These may be examined under the three heads 
of (1) Aim or Ideal, (2) Inspiration and (3) 
Method. 

ITS SPIRITUAL IDEAL 

Both the Christian and the secular types of 
Social Service agree in making human relation- 
ships in this world the objective of their opera- 
tions and in working for a social order from 
which all unnecessary pain shall be eliminated 
and in which such socially destructive forces as 
injustice, selfishness, cruelty, etc., shall be 
reduced to a minimum. But there is this funda- 
mental difference between the two, namelv, that 



IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL TASK 181 

while the former (secular humanitarianism) 
regards this ideal society as an end in itself, the 
latter (Christian humanitarianism) sees in it only 
the means to another and far more satisfying 
end — the redemption of humanity in that eternal, 
spiritual kingdom for whose coming Jesus taught 
us to pray. 

It is quite conceivable that we might have the 
ideally perfect human society, merely as a politi- 
cal and economic institution, and yet be no nearer 
the kingdom of God than we are now. Even if 
moral and aesthetic ideals were taken care of, 
even if the brute in man were to be all but elimi- 
nated, the really spiritual and religious values of 
life — the experiences of redemption and com- 
munion with God — might yet be no more secure 
than they are to-day, might conceivably be far 
less secure in proportion as this earthly life was 
made more self-contained and satisfying. Man 
is indeed a creature of his environment; but no 
conceivable amount of improved environment can 
ever make a spiritual out of a natural man, a 
Parousia out of a Utopia, the kingdom of heaven 
out of any secular reorganization of society. It 
might help to do so, but it cannot accomplish that 
miracle by itself. Shorter hours of work may 
give the working man more time to devote to the 
concerns of his soul — to attend church, read his 



182 PROGRESS 

Bible, etc.; but they are just as likely to give 
him more time to loaf on the street corners and 
attend Sunday baseball games. Larger wages 
may make men more self-respecting and allow 
them to surround themselves with more of the 
amenities of life, but they are just as likely, if 
left to themselves, to make them value their pay- 
envelopes more than the gift of God. Indeed the 
lessening of the pain and risks of life is more 
liable to make men cowards and moral inverte- 
brates than, of itself, to forward any real cultural 
or spiritual interest. 

We hear a good deal nowadays about the kin- 
ship of Christianity to Socialism; and there can 
be no doubt that there is much in common between 
the two. But there is this radical distinction to 
be kept in mind, that the ordinary political social- 
ism stands for a materialistic and, therefore, 
ultimately selfish ideal, whereas Christianity 
stands for a spiritual and, therefore, unselfish 
ideal. However the socialist may declaim about 
the time when all men will have leisure to culti- 
vate their aesthetic nature, read books, attend 
concerts, visit picture galleries and the like, what 
he is really thinking about, is the making the most 
of this life for himself and his class — the institu- 
tion of a sort of comminuted heaven "of cakes 
and ale" in which the under will at last be the 



IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL TASK 183 

upper-dog. Such an ideal, Christianity can by 
no means accept. It would prefer the present 
social anarchy with all its suffering and destitu- 
tion, but where, at least, dissatisfaction with 
things as they are, leads men now and then to 
"lift up their eyes to the hills whence cometh 
their aid." But it is not shut up to that alterna- 
tive. It is perfectly free to work for the same 
sort of political and economic reformation as the 
socialist, provided the improved environment be 
recognized as valuable only in so far as it enables 
men the better to live the life of the soul. It may 
be true that there can be no kingdom of heaven or 
earth without something like the Socialist State or 
Co-operative Commonwealth; but there can be 
Socialist States and Co-operative Common- 
wealths world without end, and no kingdom of 
heaven ! 

INSPIRED BY FAITH AND LOVE 

So much, then, for the ideal of Christian 
Social Service. Let us now compare the inner 
impulse or driving- force of the two. 

For the Christian the sole, sufficient motive of 
all social endeavor is the love of God and man 
mediated thro' a life redeemed by faith in the Son 
of God. For the mere humanitarian or social 
reformer the motive may be any one of half-a- 



184 PROGRESS 

dozen — genuine philanthropy, scientific enthu- 
siasm, indignation at social injustice ("the socio- 
logical rage," of George Bernard Shaw), the 
sense of the economic fitness of things, Simon 
Pure sentimentalism, the desire to keep step with 
the spirit of the age, etc. Nor do we desire to 
discount any of these motives or to belittle the 
lives of self-sacrifice to which they have often 
led. But for the Christian social worker they 
must all be subordinated to the driving-force of 
the love of God which, reflected on him from 
the cross of Christ, he would reflect back on the 
world. For him the drunkard in the gutter, the 
child in the sweat-shop, the victim of tuberculosis, 
are not mere sociological units, but sons of the 
All-Father and potential members of the great 
household of love. To release them from pain 
and injustice is not his final motive, but to save 
their souls — the inner lives — for the highest use 
and efficiency in the spiritual commonwealth. 
He is not merely a sociologist, but the lover of 
the God in man, not merely a scientific reformer, 
but a missionary of the grace of God. It is not, 
therefore, a new gospel he preaches ; it is the old 
gospel in a new form. Between the missionary 
and the social- worker there is no ultimate distinc- 
tion ; both are lovers of men, both preach the same 
gospel of God's grace, both are working for the 



IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL TASK 185 

same end in the spiritual reconstruction of society 
in the kingdom of God. 

There is also another, subordinate motive which 
we ought perhaps to mention — the conviction, 
namely, that the church is on trial before the 
social conscience of the age and that it must 
justify itself, or else be convicted of inadequacy 
and failure. That very charge has been made 
over and over again against it. And not without 
reason for to its shame be it said, the church has 
far too often stood passively by and seen the new 
way of the cross blazed by pioneers who did not 
call themselves by the name of the Lord. The 
spirit of the Master at work outside the churches 
is a challenge to their courage and loyalty. The 
eyes of the world are upon them; will they take 
their rightful place of leadership in the new 
crusade? 

SOCIAL ACTIVITY OF REGENERATED INDIVIDUALS 

We come now to the question of method. 
Here, again, we find a distinction between the 
Christian and non- Christian types. The machin- 
ery of the latter is purely secular — ballot-boxes, 
laws, institutions, police regulations, political and 
economic reforms, and the like. The machinery 
of the former is ultimately religious, even 
divine — namely, the regeneration of individual 



186 PROGRESS 

souls, which, thus regenerated, shall thro' the 
secular machinery just mentioned (and it 
abates no jot of its loyalty to these as secondary 
instruments) — ultimately regenerate society. 
Christianity begins with the individual ; there are 
no conversions of society apart from the conver- 
sions of the individuals who compose it. The great 
enemy of all social well-being is selfishness — 
whether it be manifested in the husband who 
spends his nights at the club, the mill-owner who 
uses the souls and bodies of little children as grist 
for his money-mill or the mill- worker who loafs 
on his job — and no amount of institutional or 
political reform can reduce that world-old evil. 
Given a perfect social organization to-morrow, it 
would be no more stable than the selfish hearts of 
the men and women who composed it, and would 
last only so long as it served the material interests 
of the majority. A recent socialist writer, Miss 
Scudder, in the Hibbert Journal, has pointed out 
that the socialist ideal is realizable only as men 
are educated into the altruistic virtues and 
trained to act in accordance with them as instinc- 
tively as they now act on the ordinary selfish cues. 
Does she realize what a plea she is making for 
Christianity as the real savior of society? For 
that is just what Christianity does : it saves men 
from selfishness and self-will and is thus fulfilling 



IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL TASK 187 

the very condition which Miss Scudder desider- 
ates. We must beware of making a fetish out 
of sociology and political economy and attribut- 
ing a sort of divinity to their so-called laws. It 
is to the human soul and not blind economic forces 
that we must look for the regeneration of society. 
And Christianity looks after the soul! 

The same is true when we pass from society at 
large to the individual cases we are called upon as 
social workers from time to time to treat. Mere 
institutional machinery, mere change in environ- 
ment, mere ethical training and exhortation is not 
enough to reorganize the life of such girls, for 
example, as are constantly being brought before 
the Juvenile Courts of our cities; for these are 
not, as a rule, cases of single missteps, but of con- 
stitutional depravity, complicated frequently by 
mental deficiency, and the lack of any inner moral 
sense. In such cases the religious, nay, the Chris- 
tian appeal is the surest foundation of lasting 
reform. Only the spiritual experience we call 
conversion can produce such a change of these 
lives at their centre, that they shall be able to 
reorganize themselves in accordance with the laws 
of God and man. This does not mean that we 
ought not to be scientific in our social work, for 
the spirit of God is not irrational and wasteful; 
but it does mean that all our science must be sub- 



188 PROGRESS 

ordinated to the "power of God unto salvation to 
everyone that believeth." 

Readers of Harold Begbie's great book, 
"Twice Born Men,"— sub-titled, "A Footnote to 
Prof. James' Varieties of Religious Experi- 
ence," but concerning which James said that his 
book was rather the footnote to Begbie's — will 
remember that in the preface he expresses sur- 
prise that politicians and social reformers should 
be seeking to regenerate society by laws and insti- 
tutions alone, when they can have for the asking 
the very Omnipotence of God himself in the re- 
making of men ! 

At the same time God's Spirit does not work 
in vacuo, and the truest "evangelical" of our 
times is he who is endeavoring to bring about 
such an environment as shall let the Spirit "have 
free course and be glorified." We cannot regard 
as God-given a state of society that makes en- 
trance into the kingdom hard for all and next to 
impossible for some. We must revise our the- 
ology to include a God who hates social injustice 
and inequality as much as we do. In the words of 
Henry George, spoken many years ago to a gen- 
eration which called him fanatic and fool, but 
now growing more and more luminous as we are 
coming to understand better the religion of love : 
"Though it may take the language of prayer, it is 



IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOCIAL TASK 189 

blasphemy that attributes to the inscrutable 
decrees of Providence the suffering and brutish- 
ness that comes of poverty; that turns with 
folded hands to the All- Father and lays on him 
the responsibility for the want and crime of our 
great cities. We degrade the Everlasting. We 
slander the Just One. A merciful man would 
have better ordered the world; a just man would 
crush with his foot such an ulcerous ant-hill ! It 
is not the Almighty, but we who are responsible 
for the vice and misery that fester amid our civili- 
zation. The Creator showers upon us his gifts — 
more than enough for all. But like swine scram- 
bling for food, we tread them in the mire, while 
we tear and rend each other!" 

H. D. C. Maclachlan. 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 

l\/f YSTICISM does not readily yield itself to 
definition. It has a varying connotation. 
Artist, poet, musician, scientist and philosopher 
are alike kindred of the mystic saint, have expe- 
rienced somewhat in their creative moments of 
that "indescribable inebriation' ' peculiarly mys- 
tical. They differ, however, in that while the 
mystic drinks deep others only sip of the cup of 
vision. The difficulty of appraisement is further 
seen when we remember that Hindu, Buddhistic, 
Neo-Platonic and Mediaeval mysticism differ 
widely from one another. There is a mysticism 
of the intellect as well as of the heart; a mys- 
ticism of escape, another of attainment; a con- 
templative and an active, a personal and an 
impersonal mysticism. In view of such variation 
it is probable that the common denominator, if 
such there be, cannot be found in terms of con- 
tent. It is to be sought, if at all, in terms of 
purpose and method. Mysticism is, perhaps, a 
temper, a quality or attitude of mind, rather than 
a content or body of doctrine. 

Mysticism, as a psychology, gives priority to 
feeling. Consciousness is essentially affective. 
Through emotion the veil that screens reality 

190 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 191 

may be lifted. Without emotion "the will would 
be dormant, and the intellect lapse into a calcu- 
lating machine." In addition to the normal con- 
sciousness the mystic possesses in the depths of his 
being a "sense" which leads unerringly to the 
Divine, the object of all mystic endeavor. As a 
metaphysic, mysticism bases itself on immediate 
experience. It cries "taste and see." Through 
his transcendental sense, this divine spark, the 
mystic apprehends or participates in ultimate 
reality which is unitary and divine. Our ordinary 
surface consciousness is illusory. The sense world 
is unreal. God alone is real. By sloughing off the 
illusions of sense, the Divine within responds to 
the call of the Divine without. Deep answers 
deep. The final attainment of the Divine, the 
alone real, the goal of the mystic quest, is identifi- 
cation, deification. The mystic theory of knowl- 
edge is that "like is known only by like," that 
"only the real can know reality," that "we behold 
that which we are." Thus knowing and being 
are one. God is the only real object of knowledge. 
To know him is to experience him immediately, 
to feel him vividly. Knowledge is of the heart 
rather than the head. It is gained by intuitive 
insight rather than by discursive reasoning. It 
is participation rather than observation. It is life 
personal and passionate rather than logic imper- 

13 



192 PROGRESS 

sonal and disinterested. The mystic knows the 
doctrine for he lives the life. His is an imme- 
diately felt, an unmistakable and self-validating 
experience. 

The Mystic Way is the process by which the 
unitive life is attained. The first step is the 
awakening of the deeper self to a splendor in the 
world, to an "adorable reality," to a vision of 
"divine beauty," to a consciousness of the pres- 
ence of God. This awakening, or conversion, 
even in its abrupt form, is "the result of a long 
period of restlessness, uncertainty, and mental 
stress." It leads to a shifting of the center of 
interest. By this emergence of the transcenden- 
tal consciousness from the subconscious realm, 
consciousness is remade about other centers and 
lifted to higher levels. The self now has a larger 
and nobler task. He seeks participation in this 
transcendental reality. His desire to escape the 
limitations and unreality of the surface con- 
sciousness leads to purification. Freedom is his 
quest. The self must undergo a process of pur- 
gation. The mystic adventure cannot be under- 
taken by the dweller in the sense world. He must 
put off the old man with its illusions, its finitude, 
its self-love, and its sins. Character must be 
completely remade in terms of the newly appre- 
hended reality. The occasional flashes of the 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 193 

uncreated light upon the soul's pathway during 
its upward struggle are now succeeded by a 
more permanent splendor. A radiance, not of 
earth, envelopes it. The soul dwells momentarily 
in the presence of God. A clarified vision of 
reality is gained. This is illumination. Upon 
such ecstatic experience a reaction follows. 
Knowing and being are not yet one. The soul 
must be dredged to its depths. This final break- 
ing up of the old centers of consciousness, this 
difficult process of utter self-renunciation, this 
"dark night of the soul," is the prelude to the final 
attainment, union with the Divine. Whereas in 
illumination the self basked in the sunlight of 
God's presence, in union it has become one with 
God, has been merged in the Absolute Life. 

A THEORY OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE 

Mysticism is essentially a theory of knowledge. 
As such its aim is participation in, rather than 
knowledge about, its object. It seeks to know its 
object, God, as an immediate experience. We 
may therefore regard it as a theory of religious 
knowledge. When viewed in terms of religion it 
reveals certain unquestionable values. In its 
emphasis upon God as an immediately experi- 
enced reality it saves from formalism. It identi- 
fies religion with a vital experience rather than a 



194 PROGRESS 

barren dogma. The center of gravity is within. 
The authority of mysticism lies in its interiorness 
and immediacy, in personal communion with 
God. Religion is brought from "the chill peri- 
phery of things" to a place in the sun. The life 
of God in the soul here and now is of its very 
essence. God is no longer a barren abstraction. 
He dwells among and in men. The divine 
spark within links man inseparably to God. It 
is man's capacity for God. Through it man is 
divined and God is incarnated. The finite and 
the infinite approach each other. The natural 
man and the spiritual man are not necessarily 
antithetical. Ideally they are one; really they 
may become one. Man's spirit is essentially 
divine. God is his destiny. The struggles of 
the Mystic Way are incident to the remaking of 
personality in terms of the Divine. The religion 
of mysticism is a personal experience, a practical 
program, a spiritual achievement, a life of love. 
It teaches, too, that the highest possibilities of the 
self are realized in communion with God. Reli- 
gion as an experience differs from its expression, 
individual or institutional. As one never ade- 
quately utters his experience, neither does his 
church creed. This uniqueness, this elusive resi- 
duum that mocks our categories, mysticism rec- 
ognizes and respects. 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 195 

While mysticism in this general way is in 
harmony with the drift of modern thought, it is 
scarcely so happy in other respects. The Mystic 
Way is a negative way. Contemplation is the 
mystic method; concentrated attention an essen- 
tial element. Contemplation is "a deliberate 
inattention to the messages of the senses." "To 
let oneself go, be quiet, receptive, is the condition 
of contact with the Cosmic Life." "Cease," says 
Boehme, "from all thy thinking and willing, then 
shalt thou hear the unspeakable words of God." 
Fixation of attention is a more positive form of 
the same method. It closes the "gateways of the 
flesh" and "wilfully refuses the messages" of the 
senses. In this way consciousness is dimmed, 
emptied and unified ( !) . Fixate some object in 
the conscious field, we are told. Exclude all oth- 
ers. "Do not think, but pour out your personality 
toward it: let your soul be in your eyes." "Un- 
suspected qualities" will appear in the object. 
You will experience a "deepening quietness." 
The object will gain a "heightened significance. 
As you with all your consciousness lean out 
toward it, an answering current will meet yours." 
The barrier between it and you melts away. 
"You are merged with it, in an act of true com- 
munion: you know the secret of its being deep- 
ly and unforgettably," and inexpressibly. So 



196 PROGRESS 

miracle-working is this method of contemplation 
that, as Miss Underhill here assures us, "seen 
thus a thistle has celestial qualities: a speckled 
hen a touch of the sublime." One can scarce for- 
bear thinking of auto-suggestion and hypnosis 
in this description of the fundamental method of 
the soul's "Mystic Marriage," of its participa- 
tion in the "life of the All." 

THE GREAT DEFECT 

Strictly speaking we cannot make a rational 
appraisement of mysticism. Mystic experience 
is individual, unsharable, and incommunicable. 
It is suprasensuous, suprarational, supracon- 
scious, and so defies description. Notwithstand- 
ing the increasing literature of its exponents, we 
are assured that language is utterly inadequate 
"as it tries to hint" at an experience "without 
equivalent in human speech." This negative 
aspect, this aloofness from normal life, is mysti- 
cism's outstanding defect. Its God is a blank, a 
negation, a characterless being, access to whom 
may be gained only by the completest renuncia- 
tion of all that conscious selfhood means. To 
him none of our human predicates apply. Deity, 
wholly undetermined, dwells at the vanishing 
point of consciousness. He is the lower (or 
upper) limit of a series extending from full con- 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 197 

sciousness to the unconscious. We are perplexed 
to learn that this goal, or limit, this zero, is alone 
real. With Professor Royce we fail to see how 
the limit of a series can have reality and value 
while the rest of the series is wholly unreal. The 
unreality of conscious experience does not follow 
from the claimed reality of a supraconscious ex- 
perience, and vice versa. The reality of the 
Absolute then, it would seem, is somehow bound 
up with the reality of the finite individual. The 
eternal gives meaning to the temporal. 

In its means of access to God mysticism dis- 
esteems history. God as revealed in human life 
and history has a positive value for faith. The 
growing Christian consciousness of nineteen cen- 
turies has added new meaning to Christ. Chris- 
tianity is an historical development. In its anti- 
intellectualism mysticism contemns history which 
is an intellectual product. The mystic's attain- 
ment of reality finds testimony in the fact that 
"the 'school for saints' has never found it neces- 
sary to bring its curriculum up to date." Here is 
completely neglected the wellknown fact that 
some have attained the God-life, having never ex- 
perienced the Mystic Way. " 'That Light whose 
smile kindles the universe' is ever the same." 
Reality eternally is, and is in no way an achieve- 
ment of the human spirit. Progress and devel- 



198 PROGRESS 

opment are apparent rather than real. The 
travail of the spirit throughout the centuries of 
social effort has been in vain. The personal, 
private character of mystic experience disregards 
the "consciousness of kind" that seems to motive 
this most social age. While it is true that the 
"Unitive State" or "Mystic Marriage" begets 
"an access of creative activity," yet this activity 
is motived from above and outside rather than 
from within the social consciousness. Salvation 
is individual rather than social. The individual 
is saved to serve rather than saved by serving. 
The aloofness of mysticism from life is seen 
too, perhaps, in the self -validating character of 
its experience. The criteria of science are obso- 
lete. God so interiorized himself to St. Theresa 
that it was "impossible for her to doubt that she 
has been in God and God in her." And yet this 
immediacy was mediated. Deprived of all 
thought and feeling she could not, during the 
moments of union, know "that she is in God and 
God in her." "Afterwards she sees it clearly." 
A definite somewhat has taken place "of which 
that surface-consciousness becomes aware when 
it awakes." Contrast is here employed. An 
interpretation of experience is confused with im- 
mediacy. It is difficult to understand how this 
return, and memory of a supra-f acuity experi- 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 199 

ence, could be in terms of the normal faculties if 
the two are wholly disparate. The two series are 
not wholly incompatible or discontinuous. The 
claim of uniqueness has not justified itself here. 
It may be that mystic uniqueness is, after all, 
but an exaggeration of what is common to all 
forms of truth seeking. 

IS MYSTIC KNOWLEDGE UNMEDIATED? 

Other considerations suggest the possibility 
that mystic intuition may not be pure, that its 
immediacy may not be unmediated, that knowl- 
edge may not have completely transcended nor- 
mal apperceptive processes. We learn from 
Parmenides that Thought and Being are "one 
and the same;" that Being is one, eternal, immu- 
table, homogeneous, unique, and infinite; that it 
transcends time and space which, with their 
plural and changing things, are illusory; that 
real Being does not become, but is a changeless 
All-One, transcending all difference. Empe- 
docles teaches that man perceives what he is; 
that like is known by like. Plato, who speaks of 
"Parmenides, my father," assures us that reality 
is immaterial; that "love leads to truth; that the 
Idea has not left himself without witness, but 
lies latent in every mind ; that the homesick soul, 
designed for divine contemplation but exiled and 



200 PROGRESS 

imprisoned in a world of sense, longs for union 
with its source." The practical identity of this 
with mystic doctrine is obvious. While the de- 
pendence of the latter upon the former does not 
necessarily follow, yet there is a strong presump- 
tion in its favor. This finds further confirmation 
in the teaching of Plotinus, an exponent both of 
Greek philosophy and of mysticism. For him 
God is unknown to sense experience. He is an 
undifferentiated unity, an indefinable Being, to 
whom all predicates are relative. Knowledge is 
by fellowship, by penetration, through ecstasy. 
When later in the emphasis by Augustine upon 
the authority of immediate consciousness with its 
tendency toward asceticism, we see an increasing 
reason for the negative characteristics of the 
Mystic Way. Were we to conclude on the other 
hand that Greek and Neo-Platonic philosophy, 
instead of giving fashion to, became a means for 
the expression of mystic doctrine, even then 
mysticism would have lost its uniqueness in the 
adequacy of philosophy to portray it. 

The harmony of mystic experience with the 
traditional doctrines of the church furnishes 
further corroborative testimony. That this 
might be so St. Theresa and others had their 
writings carefully edited by learned monks. Suso 
saw to it that his experiences, when written, 
agreed with the Fathers. Richard of St. Victor 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 201 

was suspicious of all truth not confirmed by 
Scripture. Boehme's experiences squared with 
the teachings of the Lutheran Church. "The 
Sufis were good Mohammedans, Philo and the 
Kabalists were orthodox Jews." Each experi- 
ences in his own way according to temperament 
and training. We have here an experience, a de- 
scription, and an agreement with a standard. 
Only as description is somehow adequate to ex- 
perience, as tradition is related to mystic revela- 
tion, can agreement with Authority be affirmed. 
Pure, unmediated experience that defies descrip- 
tion cannot harmonize with any standard. To 
say this is to suggest that the normal conscious- 
ness has not been completely transcended in the 
mystic "pure immediacy." 

Intuition and intellect are thus no longer hope- 
lessly divorced. Mystic insight is influenced as 
the dyer's hand. Subconscious deliverances are 
not necessarily those of a transcendental self. 
Mediacy and immediacy differ not in kind but in 
degree, or emphasis, within a common knowledge 
process. Religion and science become the com- 
mon enterprise of the same self. Heightened 
feeling is not blind; it has, and seeks, its object. 
Intellect is not empty of feeling as it strives to 
achieve its desire. Love seeks its other but 
always must retain its seZ/-respect. Loss of iden- 
tity, complete coalescence of self in its object, are 



202 PROGRESS 

impossible alike to love and knowledge. The 
mystic "wish" to get into rapport with reality is 
also the scientific. Intuition and intellect sup- 
plement one another. The one takes wings, or 
runs freely; the other walks, or "dwells duly and 
orderly." The one may seize an advance posi- 
tion; the other consolidates the ground gained. 
Intuition vivifies ; intellect verifies. Rather might 
intuition be the intellect suggesting, and intellect 
intuition searching. Bergson, the apostle of in- 
tuition, though received cum laude into the 
mystic fold, declares that "dialectic is necessary to 
put intuition to the proof." Intuition and intel- 
lect contrasted as energizing love and passive 
knowledge is a psychological myth. Religion 
versus science is a false antithesis. The two may 
well have a common impulse as their source. One 
has been unduly stressed as all-important while 
the other has been tolerated. The inertia of tra- 
dition makes it easier to continue than to correct 
the fallacy. Only as we soften the sharp lines of 
mere intellect, so-called, and give definition to the 
vagueness of mere feeling, as the facts demand, 
will a rapprochement be possible between these 
fundamental human needs. 

PROGRESSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 

Under such an hypothesis the mystic conscious- 
ness loses its transcendence, and the normal con- 



MYSTICISM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 203 

sciousness its illusion. Felt certitude, no longer 
final, yields to an experiential test. Intuitions, 
no longer immune, submit to the test of converg- 
ence of evidence, of coherence with experience, 
of consiliency of thought. In this interplay 
experience itself undergoes reconstruction. 
Knowledge grows. It is in the present progres- 
sive rather than in the perfect tense. Knowledge 
of God is a process of attaining, not a final 
attainment. Our apprehensions will become in- 
creasingly true. Union with him will be a pro- 
gressive achieving. The Way will be that of an 
ethical life, not an emotional ecstacy. He that 
doeth the will shall know the doctrine. Rapture 
and reason will meet together ; instinct and intel- 
lect will embrace each other in the activity of the 
will. God will then cease to be an unknowable, 
characterless, alien deity. Men will seek him, 
feeling that he is not far from them in normal 
life, believing that they are his offspring and he 
like unto them, and conscious that his abode is 
with men. God, "in rebus/' will be known as well 
as loved. Knowledge of him will not be the priv- 
ilege of the temperamental few. The religious 
life will be a normal life. Knowledge of God 
will be attained by the same processes as other 
knowledge. Faith and reason will companion 
together toward their common goal. God as the 



204 PROGRESS 

supreme Reality of mystic intuition will be the 
object of sincerest thought; as the supreme Hy- 
pothesis of the intellect he will become an object 
of devotion and love. 

God as an object of knowledge, rather than 
an undifferentiated unity arrived at once for all, 
will prove a complex concept that will increas- 
ingly unify experience. Knowledge as a grow- 
ing experience of the real by all the powers of the 
self and other selves, in science, philosophy and 
religion, cannot disregard the experience of the 
race. It must respect individuality ; it must con- 
serve social solidarity and historical continuity. 
Knowledge of God, that has grown with and 
through race experience, is not yet made perfect. 
New experience will compel reconstruction and 
reinterpretation. The end is not yet. God in a 
growing world will gain new meaning, new pred- 
icates. The unity of reality, as progressively 
attained, will be that of a meaningful synthesis 
of experience, capable of satisfying heart and 
head, and gained by positive effort rather than a 
colorless and meaningless unity, the goal of a 
negative process. Mysticism in order to accom- 
plish more perfectly her mission must interpret 
God and the Way to him more thoroughly in 
terms of the life and thought of our day. 

Herbert Martin. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 

, lX7 r ITH all its vigilance to protect its people 
* " and priesthood against the ideas of a pro- 
gressing civilization, through a rigid censorship 
of books and a careful supervision of education, 
yet the Roman Catholic hierarchy has not been 
able to preserve the church from the inroads of 
modern thought. 

The recent invasion of Catholicism by contem- 
porary learning which has come to be known as 
"Modernism" began as early as the middle of the 
nineteenth century. It manifested itself chiefly 
in France, Italy, Germany, England and Amer- 
ica; and was confined for the most part to intel- 
lectual groups — teachers, . and scholarly priests 
and laymen. Efforts were repeatedly made by 
Leo XIII (1878-1903) to check it, under one 
form or another, but it remained for Pius X 
(1903-1914) to attempt its complete suppression 
in a series of anti-Modernist decrees of increasing 
severity culminating in the Encyclical Pascendi 
(September 8, 1907) and the decree Sacrorum 
Antistitum (September 25, 1910). It is the 
opinion of Albert Houtin that by the year 1911 
Modernism had surrendered to the Roman Curia 
except in Germany where the dependence of 

205 



206 PROGRESS 

Catholic teachers in the universities upon a Pro- 
testant ruler gave them a degree of independence. 

Modernism owes its origin to the irresistible 
progress and universal diffusion of science and 
democracy during the nineteenth century. Every 
department of modern thought and activity has 
had eminent representatives among the modern- 
ists — St. George Mivart in the biological sci- 
ences; Duchesne and Loisy in the historical 
sciences; Mum, in politics; LeRoy, Laberthon- 
ierre and Tyrrell in religious philosophy; and 
Fogazzaro in literature — all of whom suffered 
the penalties of excommunication for their accep- 
tance of the methods and the conclusions of 
modern science. And the most advanced of them 
have gone the whole road of a thorough-going 
acceptance of modern thought. Nothing of the 
traditional or medieval remained in a Mivart or 
a Loisy. 

But Modernism is something more than the 
interesting fact that the stronghold of medieval- 
ism has been penetrated by modern forces. A 
modernist is not merely one who has been con- 
verted to the historical method, or the evolution- 
ary philosophy, or to social democracy; the 
significant thing is that in the process he is not 
alienated from his church. He may be excom- 
municated but he does not go over to Protes- 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 207 

tantism; he still counts himself a Catholic and 
waits about the door of the church, hoping for a 
time to come when she will receive him again. 

He is moved by two apparently irreconcilable 
considerations — the love of truth and the love of 
the church. He tries to love both equally well; 
and that it is which has filled the history of mod- 
ernism so full of tragic experiences. 

''But Modernism" Father Tyrrell says, "pro- 
fesses belief in the church as well as the age, in 
the possibility of a synthesis which shall be for 
the enrichment of both, the impoverishment of 
neither. To sacrifice either to the other is to 
depart, rightly or wrongly, from the modernist 
program." And Paul Sabatier says, "The Cath- 
olics of yesterday and those of tomorrow are at 
one in chanting with a like faith and an equal 
affection: Credo unam sanctam catholicam et 
apostolicam ecclesiam. 

LOYALTY OF THE MODERNISTS 

Nothing to a Modernist seems so great an out- 
rage as to be charged with disloyalty to the 
church : unless it be to be charged with disloyalty 
to the truth. To the Pope a group of Italian 
modernists wrote: "Everything will be done to 
make us apostates, but we will stand firm at our 
post, prepared to endure everything, and sacrifice 

14 



208 PROGRESS 

everything except the truth." "We mean to 
be, not rebels, but sincere catholics, to the salva- 
tion of Christianity." A German modernist of a 
more radical type, Dr. Philip Funk, said before 
the Berlin conference of Liberal Christianity in 
1910: "Our conscience is more to us than the 
judgment of the church." "There is no doubt 
that it is of value to belong to the community of 
the church. " "But should it happen that com- 
munity with the church, instead of fanning the 
religious flame, threatens to smother and extin- 
guish it, then religion must be saved at the cost 
of the church." "In our tactics we follow the 
principle: we will not leave the church; we will 
begin no schism. But in no case will we remain 
with Rome at the cost of our moral character 
and our religious ideals." 

It is this, then, which is unique in the program 
of the modernist — an equal devotion to the truth 
and to the church. He does not want to accept 
one without the other; and he will not unless he 
is compelled. But the truth which captivates him 
equally with the church is the truth which mod- 
ern science, in all of its forms — natural, historical 
and social — is unfolding to him. It is not the 
truth founded on syllogistic reasoning or on 
medieval authority but the truth founded on sci- 
entific investigation, and universal experience. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 209 

He will accept no truth which does not square 
with truthfulness ; and with him to be truthful is 
to see and to acknowledge what is or what has 
been. As Father Tyrrell has said, "The prin- 
ciple that divides medievalism from modernism 
is at the root moral rather than intellectual; a 
question less of truth than of truthfulness, 
inward and outward — of a vigorous honesty with 
one's self that makes a man ask continually: "Is 
this what I really do think, or only what I think 
that I think? or think that I ought to think? or 
think that others think?" 

To him the only truth that can be trusted is 
the truth that has been pursued with the truthful 
method — with scientific fearlessness, freedom and 
disinterestedness. Hermann Schell, leader of 
German modernists said, "Truth is the highest 
to which the spirit can dedicate itself. Freedom 
of investigation, of teaching, of learning, has its 
reason just here, that it shows the way which 
leads the race to the truth." 

The noblest quest of the truth to a modernist 
is science. A group of Italian modernists wrote 
to the pope : "Christianity exists in the world as 
law of truth and love. It is love and truth which 
inspire these two factors of modern civilization — 
science and democracy. That we may make it 
Christian we have welcomed them, seeking to 



210 * PROGRESS 

make them our own, without reserve, without 
fear, without excessive concern for the past." 
Because of his love of the truth, the modernist 
accepts the guidance of the higher criticism in 
the study of the Scriptures; and feels himself not 
only intellectually secure but morally right. To 
find the facts and to tell the truth about Scrip- 
ture is to him just as morally binding as to tell the 
truth about anything else. To be truthful is the 
essence of devotion to the truth. 

THE MODERNIST AND HIGHER CRITICISM 

It is no wonder, then, that Alfred Loisy found 
in the spirit and method of the higher criticism, 
principles worthy of religious fidelity. When 
the Roman Curia called upon him to renounce his 
studies and to repudiate his publications, he said, 
"I know all the good will of your Holiness, and 
it is to your heart I address myself today. I 
would live and die in the communion of the Cath- 
olic Church. I do not wish to contribute to the 
ruin of the Catholic faith in my country." "It 
is not in my power to destroy in myself the result 
of my labors" 

When pressed still further, he said, "It is im- 
possible for me to make honestly, with sincerity, 
the act of retraction and of absolute submission 
which the Sovereign Pontiff requires." He was 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 211 

willing to do everything in his power to keep 
peace with the church, except violate his con- 
science. He went so far as to agree: "In evi- 
dence of my good will and for the pacification of 
spirits, I am ready to give up my course of in- 
struction in Paris, and likewise I will suspend the 
scientific publications which I have in prep- 
aration." 

But to no purpose; the blow fell upon him. 
He was excommunicated from the church in 
1904. He retired from public activity to private 
life, but remained a Catholic at heart. He wrote 
to a friend, " Catholic I have been, Catholic I 
remain; critic I have been, critic I remain." 
Loisy is a typical example of the union of con- 
science with science among modernists. No 
group of men in modern times has felt more pro- 
foundly than they the ethical, not to say the reli- 
gious, nature of scientific inquiry. 

While the modernist loves both the church and 
the truth, he does not propose to hold them apart 
from each other ; he does not intend to remain in 
the church and leave it untouched by science and 
democracy. His very love of the church com- 
pells him to criticize her. As the group of Italian 
modernists said: "Our rebellion will be, at the 
most, the violence a loving son ought to exercise 
towards a sick mother, that he may induce her 



212 PROGRESS 

to observe the orders of the doctor which are 
indispensable to her recovery.' ' His modernism 
is a means to an end, and that end is the salvation 
of Catholicism in the modern world, through an 
adaptation of the church to modern science and 
democracy. 

The thing which wounds the modernist is to 
see the church which he loves, as the Italian mod- 
ernists said to the Pope, "regarded as an obstacle 
to the freedom and happiness of peoples, the 
priest insulted in the street as a vulgar and 
obscurantist parasite, the gospel and Christianity 
regarded as expressions of a civilization which 
has become obsolete, because of its incompetence 
to answer to the high ideals of liberty, justice, 
and knowledge which are agitating and inspiring 
the masses." To deliver the church from this 
contempt of the modern world and give it a place 
of honored leadership among the people is his 
fondest desire. It is his conviction that no reli- 
gious creed can ever become the faith of a people 
so long as this creed is in conflict with its cher- 
ished ideas. 

It was this motive which inspired the work of 
Father Hecker in America whose Life by Elliott 
is the best introduction to a study of the spirit of 
the entire movement in both Europe and Amer- 
ica. To save the church by adapting her faith 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 213 

and order to the spirit, knowledge and conditions 
of the modern world — that is the ruling aim of 
Modernism. 

With this end in view Father Hecker turned 
apostle of the cause of Roman Catholicism in 
America and carried on his apostleship in the 
most approved American form. He was the 
Moody of the Roman Catholic Church of his 
time, and organized a band of evangelists under 
him— the so-called "Paulist Fathers." 

He said, "Our vocation is apostolic conversions 
of Sauls to the faith." "To supply the special 
element the age and each century demands, this is 
the peculiar work of communities, this is their 
field." Again he said, "So far as it is compatible 
with faith and piety, I am for accepting the 
American civilization with its usages and cus- 
toms; leaving aside other reasons, it is the only 
way by which Catholicity can become the religion 
of our people." 

Some of the leading prelates of the church in 
America approved of Hecker's methods; and 
when complaint was made to the Pope, he wrote 
saying, "The underlying principles of these new 
opinions is that in order more easily to attract 
those who differ from her, the church should 
shape her teachings more in accord with the spirit 
of the age, and relax some of her ancient severity 



214 PROGRESS 

and make some concessions to new opinions." In 
concluding, he said, "We are unable to give ap- 
proval to those views which, in their collective 
sense, are called by some ' Americanism. ' ' 

PHASES OF THE MOVEMENT 

In France, the movement assumed several 
phases — a historico-critical, under the leadership 
of Duchesne and Loisy ; a philosophic, under the 
leadership of Le Roy and Laberthonierre ; and 
a practical under the "Abbes Democrates." 
They were all bound together, however, by a com- 
mon sympathy and under one guiding principle 
— the need of adaptation to contemporary prog- 
ress as a means of saving the Catholic Church in 
France from decay. 

The Abbe Charles Denis said, "Catholicism 
in Latin countries has reached a lamentable pass. 
It must adapt itself to its environment or it will 
continue to decay." "We are disobedient, not 
to our masters in the supernatural order, but to 
liberty in the natural order." "We have no rela- 
tions with anything that is vital, neither with sci- 
ence, nor with society, nor with the state." 

The General Vicar Birot, of Albi, voiced the 
convictions of French modernists at the conven- 
tion of the liberal clergy in 1900: "We have too 
little sympathy for our time." 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 215 

In Italy, the movement has exhibited all the 
various phases in different proportions — the his- 
torico-critical, the philosophical and theological; 
but the literary and political have dominated all 
others. Italy alone has produced in Fogazzaro a 
novelist of Modernism, and in Murri a first rank 
political leader. The modernists of Italy have 
seen the greatest peril to the church in her aliena- 
tion from political life and from the democratic 
aspirations of the people. To bridge this chasm, 
Murri, a priest, espoused the cause of democracy 
and has been repeatedly reelected to the Chamber 
of Deputies in spite of the papal excommunica- 
tion. The Italian modernists have still further 
distinguished themselves in the publication 
anonymously of The Program of Modernism — 
the most brilliant and successful defense of their 
cause against the papal encyclical Pascendi Do- 
minici Gregis. 

In Germany the dominant tendencies of Mod- 
ernism have been theological, though all phases 
of modern scholarship have been represented in 
it. It has been very largely identified with the 
universities where it has enjoyed an unusual 
degree of freedom through the protection extend- 
ed by a Protestant government. Under the lead- 
ership of Hermann Schell, professor, and for a 
time, rector of the University of Wiinzburg, a 



216 PROGRESS 

group of modernists were gathered together and 
were encouraged to speak and write. One of 
their number wrote the Pope as follows: "Do 
you not see how great is the difference between 
former times and ours?" "The times have 
changed. Hence the method of teaching is to be 
changed." 

English Modernism has produced two distin- 
guished leaders — Mivart in the field of science 
and Tyrrell in the field of religious philosophy, 
both of whom were excommunicated and their 
books put upon the Index because of teachings in 
harmony with modern thought. Baron von 
Hiigel, writing of Tyrrell after his death, said, 
"He had learned from Newman's book on the 
Development of Christian Doctrine much more 
than its author intended, 'that' as Newman said, 
'to grow is to change, and to be perfect is to have 
changed often.' " 

In defense of their principle of adaptation 
they cite the entire history of the church, but 
especially the example of Thomas Aquinas who 
performed for the medieval church what they are 
seeking for the modern church. "St. Thomas 
was thus the true modernist of his time, the man 
who strove with marvellous perseverance and 
genius to harmonize his faith with the thought of 
that day. And we are true successors of the 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 217 

scholastics in all that was valuable in their work — 
in their keen sense of the adaptability of the 
Christian religion to- the ever changing forms of 
philosophy and general culture." They see in 
the entire history of the church a continuous proc- 
ess of adaptation to contemporary needs. This 
is the essence of historic evolution. 

THE CHURCH AND THE MODERNIST 

The very things, however, which the modern- 
ists are seeking to bring about in the Catholic 
Church — the transformation of her dogma in the 
light of modern science, and the transformation 
of her organization under the impulse of modern 
democracy — are just the things which the official 
hierarchy fears more than anything else. Science, 
in its historic form, would dissolve the historic 
fictions on which her authority and power rest, 
and that was the point in the first bitter re- 
proaches hurled at Duchesne in 1894 by the 
friends of the established order: "It will be nec- 
essary to stop M. l'Abbe Duchesne in his work 
of religious demolition; if he is permitted to go 
on, nothing will soon be left standing of our 
ecclesiastical history, of our hagiography, of our 
Christian origins; he will make the void most 
complete." "He has demolished our most sacred 
traditions; he has suppressed almost all our 



218 PROGRESS 

ancient saints; all our relics are forged; we are 
full of superstition." It was doubtless to the work 
of Duchesne that the Italian modernists refered 
when they turned indignantly upon the Pope and 
said, "You have regarded as a blasphemer the 
man who was able to demonstrate the insuffi- 
ciency of the proofs of the miraculous translation 
of the Holy House of Loretto — as if the worship 
paid to the Blessed Virgin were founded upon its 
historic reality." 

This is the chief offense of the modernist in the 
eyes of the Roman Curia — demanding that 
Rome change and adapt herself to modern ideas 
and popular aspirations. Change is not con- 
gruous with her assumption of divine authority 
and infallibility. Others may change, but she 
must remain the same, as she contends that she 
always has. But here the modernist's knowledge 
of history, and his belief in the law of historical 
evolution in all things both secular and religious 
moves him to reply: "To exist is to change." 
"Everything in the history of Christianity has 
changed — doctrine, hierarchy, worship; but all 
these changes have been providential means for 
the preservation of the gospel spirit, which has 
remained unchanged through the ages." 

The dream and passion of the modernist is to 
make Catholicism truly catholic — inclusive of all. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC MODERNISM 219 

As Tyrrell expressed it: "The religion of all 
humanity and of the whole man; of the classes 
and the masses ; of the Greek and the barbarian ; 
of the university and the slum ; neither above the 
lowest intelligence nor beneath the highest; 
neither a burden to the weak nor an offense to 
the strong. The religion not so much of all 'sen- 
sible men' — for all are not sensible — as of all 
honest men, for all can be and are naturally hon- 
est; a religion unencumbered and unentangled 
with contingent and perishable values, free as an 
arrow in its flight straight home to the universal 
conscience of humanity. " 

Errett Gates. 



PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 

1ITE HAVE of late begun to learn that an 
army which loses the aggressive is already 
three parts beaten. This principle of military 
strategy is only the outgrowth of a very old law 
of nature which is that there is nothing living 
which is not growing; that a tree, when it ceases 
to grow begins to die, and so does a man. A 
thing cannot be both static and dynamic. It 
must be either the one or the other. As soon as a 
building is complete it begins to deteriorate, 
whether that building is a church, a palace or a 
pyramid; and so everything must either be 
always becoming new or else it is already old and 
on the road to be defunct. The same thing is 
true with regard to thought, with regard to reli- 
gion, with regard to churches and societies. If 
they are not growing they are dying. If they 
are not green with expansion, they are yellow 
with decay. If they have lost the aggressive they 
have lost the battle. 

WHAT IS A RADICAL? 

If we try to dig ourselves in and stay where we 
are, in intellectual and spiritual life, we get 

220 



PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 221 

nowhere. We often hear the term progressive, 
radical, liberal, applied as an epithet to a man or 
a church. I am always proud if anyone calls me 
a progressive, a radical. It indicates that I still 
have some life left in me with advancing age. I 
am proud of the company which I keep as a lib- 
eral, if I can indeed lay claim to that high name 
and that high companionship. If St. Paul had 
been a conservative like St. James, the church 
would never have gone, so far as human wisdom 
can judge, to the Gentiles; and we should still 
have been a sect of the Jews. If Martin Luther 
had been a conservative instead of a radical, there 
would have been no Protestant church. The 
church would still have been a part of the Roman 
hierarchy. It would have been, no doubt, a 
greatly changed and developed and enlarged 
Roman Church; nevertheless, but for Luther, 
Huss, Wycliffe, Zwingli, — the radicals, the 
reformers, the progressives, the liberals of 
that time, we should still have been a part of 
the Church of Rome. If Oliver Cromwell had 
been a conservative, a Tory, there would have 
been no 'constitutional monarchy in England, 
unless the Lord had raised up some other pioneer. 
If George Washington had been a conservative, 
a Tory, there would have been, so far as history 



222 PROGRESS 

can indicate, no free America. We should still 
have been like Canada, a dominion of Great Brit- 
ain in the new world. 

THE PROGRESSIVE SUFFERS 

It is evident on the face of it, too, that these 
progressives were not lacking in conviction. So 
often the radical is accused of holding lax opin- 
ions, when the very contrary is the truth. As a 
matter of fact, the liberal more often suffers for 
his convictions than does the conservative who 
holds with the majority. If he were not deeply 
conscientious in his views he would yield them 
and drift with the tide. Instead of that, he 
stands out against his timid time, endures frowns, 
coldness, condemnation, and often persecution 
for his faith. The weak man, who cannot endure, 
would better flock with the majority. 

The world has always been moved by the radi- 
cal and the progressive. The conservative party, 
the Tory party, — which has always had its exist- 
ence in politics, in church, in religion — has tried 
to hold back the world and has failed. There are 
men today who, in tilings spiritual, have dug 
themselves into trenches, behind parapets and 
barbed-wired entanglements, and have tried to 
repel the advance of on-coming time. It is a piti- 



PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 223 

ful fight, for the world is moving. Times change. 

JESUS FOR PROGRESS 

Jesus and his apostle, Paul, gave the utmost 
encouragement to the attitude of progress, of 
advancement, development, in the religious 
thought of their own and the present time. The 
one great discovery in the intellectual life of the 
nineteenth century is the theory of development, 
what we call commonly the theory of evolution. 
It has become the most convenient method by 
which today we think. We find it permeates our 
science and literature alike. And if there is any 
one great thing which, in the history of thought, 
is likely to mark our present age, it is the discov- 
ery of that law of God's work; for after all it 
is simply the restatement of that old law enunci- 
ated by St. Paul: "Old things pass away; they 
are become new." Everything either grows or 
dies. That is what evolution means. Nothing 
stands still; nothing moves with aimless feet; 
everything goes to a definite end, to a sure pur- 
pose. Through all increasing time the increasing 
purpose runs. 

This law is undoubtedly true with regard to 
religious life. There are three realms at least, in 
which the application of this principle should be 

15 



224 PROGRESS 

made. The first of these is with regard to truth. 
The second, the atmosphere by which the truth is 
surrounded. Third, the action which is an out- 
growth both of the truth and the atmosphere 
with which truth is clothed. 

DID JESUS HAVE A SYSTEM? 

First, with regard to truth. Truth is not 
something fossilized and crystallized. Truth is 
never static; it is always dynamic. It is never 
anchored; it is always sailing the high seas. 
Truth cannot therefore be a thing of the past, 
it is always a thing of the present. It never 
entrenches. It is always mobile, going out into 
the field, advancing. It never takes final root. 
It always runs and grows and develops and dis- 
seminates. 

Now, Jesus never undertook to give the world 
a fixed system, a body of truth, signed, sealed, 
and delivered, never to be developed, expanded 
or changed. Neither did he give any systems of 
commands, set forth any code. Neither the one 
nor the other is to be found in the Sermon on the 
Mount, in the parables, or in his discourses. His 
truth was always of such character as to be 
applicable to any time, under any conditions. It 
makes little difference what the circumstances 
are bv which that truth is surrounded, the truth 



^PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 225 

is always there, vital as radium, powerful as 
electricity. 

It is not to be contended that truth is not the 
same from one age to another. Truth and only 
truth can abide. It is ours to search for the 
truth that is eternal. So Jesus is the same yes- 
terday, today and forever because he was the 
truth. Circumstances in which one is placed may 
be different, but the truth is ever the same. 
However the clothing may vary, Jesus is the 
same. So it stands to reason that all truth is 
part of divine truth, his truth, our truth. There 
is no such thing as damaging truth or false truth. 
It is impossible to conceive for a moment of any 
truth that does not fit in with all truth. It makes 
no difference, therefore, from whence truth 
comes to me. It is part of God's truth. It 
belongs to me and is in his system; and if my 
soul recognizes it as truth, it becomes mine and 
never out of harmony with all the truth that I 
possess. 

WHY AFRAID OF TRUTH? 

Why then should anyone ever be afraid of 
the truth? Is it American truth or German 
truth? Is it Hebrew truth or English truth? 
It is only so named from the various discoverers 
and emphasizers of it. We need never be afraid 



226 PROGRESS 

of any man's truth. It wings its way to its place 
in the mind of man. Truth, so far from being a 
thing to be afraid of, gives us life and more 
abundant life. So we may take it as a great 
mistake on the part of the church or of teachers 
ever to tremble in the presence of the guns of 
truth, ever to fear for the safety of the church 
and gospel of Jesus. Is it geology? How we 
were afraid of it twenty years ago ! Is it biology ? 
Is it criticism, which is but another name for the 
scientific study of any books? How afraid we 
were of that, some ten years ago! Our fear has 
all gone. Whatever the source, truth is always 
the same. It has its place and its part in God's 
own system. We need never fear it. 

MAN IS LAZY INTELLECTUALLY 

Further than that the human soul has an 
infinite right to truth, and a capacity for 
recognizing the truth. It is not a question of 
education — it is not a question of intellectual 
training or development. The wayfaring man 
need not err in it, if he but trust his own soul to 
recognize the truth when he comes face to face 
with it. No doubt the tendency of humanity is to 
be timorous, and to say that it wants the truth 
delivered by some authority outside itself. We 
want a book that will give us a final word on a 



PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 227 

subject. We want a person's or a teacher's 
opinions we can accept. It is a difficult thing to 
get humanity to weigh the evidence for itself 
and to make up its mind for itself. It is so much 
easier to have somebody else make up our minds 
for us. We are by nature lazy intellectually and 
we like to take things delivered to us predigested. 
This attitude comes from distrust of ourselves, 
and is the worst heresy in the world. Let us be 
brave enough and alive enough to trust ourselves, 
make up our minds for ourselves and not wait 
for church, priest, book or teacher to tell us the 
truth. The truth is our own and we can take it 
wherever we can find it, by our own unaided 
power. What a priest proclaims to you is not 
a truth to you until you have taken it into your- 
self and made it a part of yourself. The soul is 
endowed with the dignity of its own loneliness; 
it must meet and recognize and appropriate for 
itself the truth. 

Jesus stood one day by the pool of Bethesda 
and there he saw a man, crippled these many 
years, his legs twisted, his hands drawn so they 
could not hold a staff, and his friends had to 
bring him to the edge of the water. Jesus said 
to him, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." That 
is. the picture of the crippled and paralyzed 
minds of men afraid of truth, afraid to stand 



228 PROGRESS 

alone. The word of our Lord Christ comes to 
every timorous soul paralyzed with dread — 
"Arise, take up thy bed and walk for thyself." 

TRUTH DOES NOT VARY 

Once again, with regard to the atmosphere by 
which truth is surrounded. There is nothing new 
under the sun, said the preacher, the wise man 
of old; and he was right. There are no new 
stories to be told. They are only to be sur- 
rounded by a new atmosphere, a new local color. 
The same old stories have been told for ten 
thousand years. The same comedies, the same 
tragedies, the same romances were sung far back 
under the moons of India, within the walls of 
China, that are enacted in our most modern 
poems, novels, and plays. The only difference 
is the atmosphere by which they are surrounded. 
The story of the fall of Troy, the beauty of 
Helen, of the quarrels of Agamemnon and 
Achilles and Menelaus — they are the old stories 
which are being lived again upon the fields of 
Flanders. There is nothing new. 

Now when Jesus came he found the same sort 
of men about him that had constituted the 
Assyrian and the Persian and the other empires 
of long ago. That same sort of men are here in 
our cities, on our countryside, at this hour, 



PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 229 

Instead of the Oriental robes or armor, there is 
the stiff sober garb of a temperate zone and a 
cold environment. But underneath those mod- 
ern garments are beating the same hearts with 
the same aspirations and ideals, the same 1 hopes 
and fears and dreads and loves, the same hero- 
isms, the same yearnings and aspirations. Hu- 
man hearts are ever the same. So we see how it 
is that truth does not vary; only the clothing 
varies, times vary, conditions change. 

"mummies" and religion 

What was given to those men on the Lake of 
Galilee and by the Jordan, was universal in its 
application, but may be differently worded and 
differently dressed for the work the message 
needs to do today. Yet we vainly try to continue 
the atmosphere, the dress, the local color of the 
truth of two thousand years ago. We strive now 
to drape the figure of truth in the same clothing 
in which it was draped then. There is where we 
make our blunder — is it not? We go into the 
modern church and find the attempt to recreate 
the atmosphere of a Roman church, of a Jewish 
church, or of a Greek church of classic times. 
Instead of the spirit of the twentieth century, 
there is the spirit of old Egypt or of the Hebrew 
world. As in one of the poems of Bulwer Lytton 



230 PROGRESS 

there is a description of a delicate, sweet odor 
like that which comes from a winding sheet where 
a mummy is half unrolled, so in our present-day 
sanctuaries we easily detect the delicate, sweet 
scent from a winding sheet where a mummy of 
the dead past, of the old Hebrew civilization, is 
half -unrolled in the presence of men of the twen- 
tieth century. No wonder they often flee. The 
church fails right here — does it not? — when it 
tries to restore that dead and buried past, instead 
of giving to worship /and the statement of truth 
in our times and our own country, the atmosphere 
and the color that belongs to us. There should 
be an American church for the American people. 
There should be an English church for the Eng- 
lish people; a German church for the German 
people; and not a Hebrew church for all these 
different peoples. We may utilize old scenes, no 
doubt, in so far as those are beautiful pictures 
of the past and familiar to modern memory; but 
after all, the American people should learn les- 
sons of our own great men as well as of Saul, 
Jonathan, and Noah. We should learn from 
Washington and Lincoln and Webster and 
Emerson, with their life-blood, their spirit, their 
message brought to our modern mind. Let us 
take that beautiful old story of truth that never 
changes and carry it to the old, old hearts of men 



PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 231 

that never change, with the new color and new 
atmosphere of the day in which they live. Let us 
not dig in behind pyramids built forty centuries 
ago, in old and worn forts and trenches, in the 
disheveled and rotting past, and there try to 
defend ourselves and die. 

JESUS NOT AN ORGANIZER 

Once more, regarding the action of truth. The 
church makes a mistake if it tries to enchain itself 
by the precedents of the past. Jesus never made 
any organization. Jesus never built any form 
for a church to be moulded in; neither did his 
apostles. The church is a man-made, man- 
moulded, man-built affair, erected on the plan 
of the Greek popular assembly of the time, with 
the bricks of Roman legalism, and an infiltration 
from the Hebrew synagogue system of the day. 
Attempts are made to perpetuate this form, hard 
and fast, to the present time. We seek to bind 
ourselves in with the forms which are given us 
by the little republic of the Aegean sea, Jesus 
having given us no forms, no boundary lines by 
which to organize. The apostles, too, have given 
us no exact specifications. We attempt in vain 
from the epistles to construct any coherent, any 
clear-cut definition of just how the church should 
be organized. Here lies the reason for so much 



232 PROGRESS 

fighting over church polity. One says Paul 
decreed this and that. Cries another: "No, no, 
you are mistaken, Paul did not mean just that." 
The truth is, there is no definite "Thus saith the 
Lord" concerning organization. You cannot 
find them in the book. They are purposely left 
out, no doubt, so that our actions might be un- 
trammeled with the past. 

"thus saith the lord" 

The inalienable heritage of truth is ours which 
it is our blessed privilege to carry forward in the 
forms and manners and the systems of the times 
in which we live ; and whenever we hark back to 
the dead and buried past, we cripple and trammel 
ourselves in the extension of the old kingdom 
of the truth. So what is the difference whether 
we use an organ in our service, or an orchestra? 
There is no "Thus saith the Lord." Whether we 
have missionary societies or not. There is no 
"Thus saith the Lord." Whether we have a 
board of deacons or whether a board of trustees. 
There is no "Thus saith the Lord." Whether we 
have elderships or not. You cannot find in Scrip- 
ture phrases sufficiently strong to buckle an 
eldership round the neck of any modern church 
if it does not choose to put it there. It is little 
odds whether we have bishops or whether we dp 



PROGRESSIVE PROTESTANTISM 233 

not have bishops ; it is a question of convenience, 
of expediency of the twentieth century and not 
of the first. The old question of church organiza- 
tions is a futile question. The all-important 
thing is that the truth be given a chance to act. 
It certainly acts best, too, in the spirit of the time 
in which it lives. Jesus enjoined upon his fol- 
lowers two observances — baptism and the Lord's 
Supper — which the common consciousness of all 
his disciples has approved and followed. The 
manner and time of observing these have varied 
with different ages and conditions. They are 
just as valuable in one time as^ another, just as 
reasonable, and just as full of meaning. The 
truth underlying them never varies, however 
much the manner of their observance may change 
with the changing environment. 

THE WORLD MOVES 

Here, then, lies the justification for progres- 
sion in our Protestanism. It resides in the 
eternal character of truth, in the varying color 
and clothing of the truth with the progress of 
the ages, and in the new environment. What is 
to be our attitude in the face of this great ques- 
tion of advance or retreat? How shall you and 
I front it? The world moves. Nothing on earth 
can stop man. He is going, blindly, uncon- 



234 PROGRESS 

sciously and gropingly, he is going toward a 
definite end. Progress is here whether we try 
to entrench and stop it or whether we get out 
and move and go along with it. Its advance is 
as relentless as the moving of the car of Jugger- 
naut. Part of the people ride upon it, and the 
others try to fall before its wheels so that they 
may be crushed. The car of progress is like that ; 
it is going, steadily going. One thing is true, 
you and I must either be on it or under it — which 
is it to be? 

Btjrris A. Jenkins. 



TWO DECADES OF MISSIONARY HISTORY 

U TF one saw," said the late Henry Dmmmond, 
-■- "a single navvy trying to remove a mountain, 
the desolation of the situation would be suffi- 
ciently appalling. Most of us have seen a man 
or two, or a hundred or two ministers, mission- 
aries, Christian laymen — at work upon the high 
evolution of the world; but it is when one sees 
them by the thousand in every land, and in every 
tongue, and the mountain honeycombed, and 
slowly crumbling on each of its frowning sides, 
that the majesty of the missionary work fills and 
inspires the mind." And Henry Drummond's 
light failed at the very opening of the period 
under review. With what eager enthusiasm and 
in what glowing terms he would have described 
the vast achievements of the last twenty years 
must be left for those with fertile imaginations 
to describe. Companies of writers have not been 
lacking to picture the amazing material progress 
in the last century. But the best they can do 
only shadows forth the richness and fullness of 
the missionary advancement. So brief is the 
space at our disposal, however, that only the high 
points and the main lines can be indicated. And 
it seems convenient to consider them under the 

235 



236 PROGRESS 

heads: Progress in Missionary Idealism; Prog- 
ress in Missionary Realization — At Home; 
Progress in Missionary Realization — Abroad. 

(1) THE FATE OF THE HEATHEN 

The most outstanding missionary achievement 
in the last two or three decades has been accom- 
plished in the minds of the leaders and support- 
ers ; namely, their conversion to a nobler and more 
Christian aim. The stupid doctrine of total de- 
pravity for centuries had deeply dyed the mission- 
ary purpose and biased the appeal back of it. 
This was especially severe on the heathen, but 
ethnocentric sentiments turned its edge when ap- 
plied to civilized peoples. But fully persuaded 
that all backward races were purposefully per- 
verse in their thoughts and utterly unwilling to do 
anything but grovel in wilful sin, and deeply con- 
vinced that innumerable cohorts of them were 
plunging designedly into eternal torment every 
day in the year, the missionary enthusiasts had 
stirring materials with which to urge the church 
to "speed away" and snatch as many as possible 
from the burning. Hence thirty years ago, it 
was common to hear missionary addresses which 
were highly spiced with finely spun arithmetical 
calculations of the numbers hourly dropping 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 237 

through the film of life into the bottomless pit. 

(2) THE PERIL OF THE CHURCH 

But this monstrous doctrine yielded before the 
light of fuller knowledge of the heathen and also 
of Christ's God. From a better understanding of 
the backward peoples issued the conclusion that 
they were not so much wilful as ignorant sinners ; 
that they were not eager travelers towards dark- 
ness but belated travelers towards the light. 
Then, in addition, men were growingly inclined 
to believe in the justice of God. And these new 
views took the pith out of the former appeal. 
But the heathen were still very needy and new 
methods of arousing the church had to be found. 
It was then remembered that Christ had given 
the great commission to his apostles and through 
them to the church. Woe to it if it failed to 
do its utmost, perhaps not less for the sake of 
the heathen but more for its own sake! The 
peril of a careless church became the new issue. 

(3) GIVING THE FULL GOSPEL 

But again fuller knowledge changed the 
emphasis. As we review the appeals of ear- 
lier days there is striking lack of an adequate 
conception of what giving the "gospel" to the 



238 PROGRESS 

whole world really meant. There is some evi- 
dence that the purpose was merely to let the 
peoples hear and then take the consequences 
if they did not heed; to spray the parched and 
withered branches of humanity with the first 
principles of a narrowly conceived message and 
then to pass on. Thus the missionaries were 
to finish their task with their words and thus 
was the "evangelization of the whole world in 
this generation" a possibility. Meanwhile, how- 
ever, the meaning of the gospel has widened 
immeasurably and we now have some adequate 
notion of what changes ought to follow its adop- 
tion in any community. The almost universal 
present intention is to help build up in foreign 
lands an indigenous Christian civilization. The 
business of missions is now conceived to be to 
stimulate struggle, growth and ultimate mastery, 
the knowledge of Christ being the dynamic of 
new life. The impulse is now to share the 
choicest seeds of modern human experience with 
all mankind. Of course, the deep degradation of 
the backward races has not been forgotten; the 
solemn peril of an indifferent church has not been 
forgotten; but the rare privilege of bestowment 
has been added, and, therefore, the modern ap- 
peal is irresistible. This is the ideal dominating 
the modern missionary enterprise. We now turn 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 239 

to a very sketchy account of how this ideal is 
being realized. 

To thinkers and theorists, ideals are ends in 
themselves. To social practitioners, however, to 
be highly regarded, they must get themselves 
clothed in serviceable institutions. And since 
this is the point of view of the modern missionary 
leaders, some account of the social structures 
developed for the purpose of communicating the 
best of our experience to those in need must be 
noted first. 

( 1 ) THE ECUMENICAL COUNCILS 

To build a Christian civilization out of the ruins 
of decaying systems of belief and practice was 
soon seen to be a stupendous task. Wide counsel 
was necessary. In New York, in 1900, the 
leaders faced the situation comprehensively and 
prepared the way for the great Edinburgh Con- 
ference in 1910. At this time the wisdom of the 
whole movement was concentrated and distilled 
into the widest policies and plans within the range 
of human ingenuity. The whole undertaking un- 
derwent the most searching scientific scrutiny 
and methods were adopted in advance of any- 
thing previously conceived. Being neglected at 
Edinburgh, Latin- America became the theme 
of a conference on its own account in 1916 at 

16 



240 PROGRESS 

Panama. And as a result the wonderful sister- 
continent has come before the Protestant church 
as almost virgin missionary soil. That valuable 
discipline known as the "Science of Missions" is 
an outgrowth of these conferences. 

(2) THE STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 

While the movement to enlist the educated 
young people of Christian lands was organized 
before the period under review, it has been espe- 
cially emphasized and successful in recent years. 
The appeal to the cream of humanity has been 
systematically carried on by means of special 
lectures, study classes, conferences and personal 
interviews and ever increasing numbers are 
volunteering. From 1906 to 1910 almost thir- 
teen hundred new missionaries were supplied to 
the boards and over six thousand were enlisted. 
And within three years the Disciples of Christ 
have made a systematic campaign for the pur- 
pose of calling out one thousand workers from 
one denomination. Truly the young people are 
doing their part. 

(3) MISSIONARY TRAINING 

But it soon became clear that large numbers of 
candidates were not the sole concern. Returned 
missionaries began to plead pathetically for spe- 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 241 

cial preparation of candidates. "It takes the 
highest to raise the lowest," they reiterated and 
the boards were soon convinced. Accordingly the 
universities and some special institutions began to 
coordinate courses of study in foreign religions, 
in sociology, in pedagogy and other branches to 
make the candidates equal to the tremendous re- 
sponsibility they were assuming. The vocation 
of missionary, in consequence, has been dignified 
to the rank of a profession requiring expert 
knowledge. This achievement is fully within the 
period under consideration and deserves to be 
compared with the greatest. 

(4) laymen's movement 

With such large numbers offering and equip- 
ping themselves, the leaders, more than ever, 
faced that "disease which someone has called 
lack of funds." In reviewing the resources 
of the church, it was plain that the men were 
not interested. As a result in 1908, some 
enthusiastic and generous laymen organized to 
enlist the fathers and uncles and brothers and 
put them behind their sons and nephews and 
daughters and nieces who had volunteered. As 
is well known, the gains to the missionary 
societies from lay sources have been enormous. 



242 PROGRESS 

(5) MISSIONARY STUDY CLASSES 

But how was the growing enthusiasm of the 
church to be maintained? Only by communicat- 
ing to it a larger knowledge of what was actually 
involved, of the sort of task it had undertaken. 
There had to be increasing interest throughout 
the years if the societies were not some day to be 
stranded. And so the "missionary education 
movement" got under way. Text-books were 
written, classes were widely organized and many 
other means adopted to enlarge the horizon of 
Christians everywhere. This has had a phe- 
nomenal effect on missionary giving. 

(6) CHRISTIAN UNION 

So stupendous did continued study of the 
fields reveal the missionary task to be that 
every available resource seemed indispensable. 
In fact, it became sickeningly apparent that 
a divided church was not only sinfully wasting 
its means, but was actually hopeless in its 
attempt even to preach to all the world. Thus 
the appeal of the fields has been a weighty 
factor in urging Christian union. And that the 
movement is gathering strength is evidenced by 
such facts as the perfectly harmonious coopera- 
tion of missionary leaders, the apportionment of 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 243 

the fields, interdenominational campaigns for 
men and money and the organization of the 
"Federal Council of Churches of Christ in 
America." 

(7) MISSIONARY GENEROSITY 

All this splendid cooperation, this methodical 
planning and efficient organization may be par- 
tially judged by the financial return. In 1894-5 
the total contributions of Christians were ap- 
proximately fourteen millions of dollars. In 
1915 the total was above thirty-eight millions, and 
the native churches gave in addition over eight 
millions. Various boards show gains from less 
than 100 per cent to over 500 per cent. The num- 
ber of missionaries increased from 16,218 in 1900 
to 24,871 in 1914. The local missionaries and 
helpers grew from 62,366 to 129,527 in the same 
period. Large numbers of wealthy laymen are 
now giving their thousands of dollars annually 
and have assumed complete responsibility for 
whole districts. 

(8) HOME MISSION DEVELOPMENT 

Amidst all this preparation for the work 
abroad, the home field has not been forgotten. 
Almost every church is now interested in the 
untouched portions of our own land and many 



244 PROGRESS 

of them are prosecuting the work in its most 
up-to-date forms, education of negroes and 
foreigners and various other forms of social 
service. 

(9) THE MEN AND MILLIONS MOVEMENT 

Space will not permit attention to many sig- 
nificant movements in denominational circles, but 
the Men and Millions Movement among the 
Disciples cannot be overlooked. This is a cam- 
paign, begun in 1913, to raise six millions of 
dollars for education and missions and call, as 
before noted, one thousand workers into service. 
Eesides being so comprehensive in its reach, this 
campaign will mean, as J. Campbell White says, 
"the raising of fifty millions of dollars by the 
Protestant Church in America." 

Thus do organization, education and generos- 
ity move on in ever increasing proportions and 
the results abroad, as we shall see, have been 
greater in twenty years than during all the pre- 
vious centuries of the Christian era. Missions 
have now been accepted as a world issue. 

(1) converts 

When we come to look at the concrete 
results of so much effort, we are forced to 
acknowledge the amazing success of the 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 245 

missionary enterprise. Personal letters from the 
leading board secretaries tell of vast ingatherings 
in many fields. The United States and Canadian 
missionaries reported 37,475 additions during 
1913. In the twenty years, the Presbyterian 
board has had an increase of 117,156 and the 
Anierican Baptist society 217,440. African 
Christians increased 196 per cent from 1900 to 
1910. Most of the boards show proportionate 
gains. "Including the Roman and Greek com- 
munions there are not less than 50,000 workers 
abroad and seven million communicants," says 
Robinson. At the present time there are 606 
colleges and seminaries, and 12,969 other schools 
abroad. The total yearly attendance is over 
547,000. Certainly this means a large and in- 
tense influence on the destinies of nations. 

(2) NEW FIELDS 

Many new stations have been opened up 
in the last two decades. The Presbyterian 
board has entered Venezuela and the Philip- 
pines, — and it is to be noted that the 
Philippines have been open to Protestant mis- 
sions only since 1898. It has pushed into the 
interior of Africa and occupied new sections in 
China and Korea. The Foreign Christian Mis- 
sionary Society has gone into the Philippines, 



246 PROGRESS 

Cuba and Tibet. The American Baptist Society 
has taken over the Bengal-Orissa territory in 
India. The American Board opened a station in 
the Transvaal in 1893, another in East Africa 
in 1905, three stations on the West Coast of 
Africa since 1895 and two in the Balkan States. 
Religious liberty has been established in South 
America. These are merely illustrative. Of 
course many of these sections were not un- 
touched before, but these facts are assembled to 
indicate the rapid movement into strategic fields. 

(3) LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 

The last few years have witnessed remarkable 
progress in language study and translation. All 
boards declare that the press is an adjunct to mis- 
sionary effort second to none. Dr. Arthur Jud- 
son Brown thinks that the mission press in Syria 
is doing more than all the other agencies combined 
to influence the Mohammedan world. With tire- 
less patience and amazing skill the African lan- 
guages have been unlocked and Christian litera- 
ture prepared for the people. Missionaries have 
reduced many languages and dialects to writing. 

(4) EDUCATION 

But books and pamphlets are useless with- 
out readers and two- thirds of the human race 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 247 

can neither read nor write. Hence mis- 
sionaries have always had to be educators. 
This method of approach has been emphasized 
in all countries in recent years and the founda- 
tions of Christian colleges and universities have 
been placed in many lands. All China was 
opened in 1905 to Christian education and with 
the abolition of the old system of examinations, 
the products of the mission colleges found them- 
selves in command of the situation. The union 
Christian University of Nanking is a most re- 
markable example of what is being projected all 
over the East. Within the last twenty years 
industrial education has been accepted as a nec- 
essary and permanent part of the missionary 
purpose. "A plow does the work of ten wives" 
is Africa's latest lesson and when she learns it, 
polygamy will be dealt the heaviest blow it has 
ever received. 

(5) MEDICAL MISSIONS 

Christianity and applied science coalesce in 
medical missions, and the force of their com- 
bined influence is irresistible. Consequently all 
the boards report increased emphasis upon 
this work in recent years. In 1913 a mission- 
ary conference recognized medical missions as 
an "integral, coordinate and permanent part 



248 PROGRESS 

of the missionary work of the Christian Church/' 
The doctors have, within a few years, halted 
epidemics of smallpox, limited the ravages of 
tuberculosis, introduced disinfectants and anti- 
septics and taught sanitary science to thousands. 
The proverbial relation between cleanliness and 
godliness has been made real in India. China 
has been given the best of modern medical 
science. 

(6) SOCIAL REFORM 

In addition to the reforms in education and 
missions already noted there have been other 
movements of vast importance in lands touched 
by missionaries. The educational revolution of 
1905 due to missionary leaven is the key to the 
political revolution now going on in China. 
And the wiping out of the opium traffic and 
the formation of anti-footbinding societies are 
familiar to all. In several countries the war 
against narcotics and gambling goes steadily 
on. The slavery and rum traffics in Africa 
are being rapidly restricted. Many such de- 
tails might be mentioned, but we are content 
here to note the movements for the deliverance of 
women, that towards the establishment of democ- 
racy and that in the interests of greater economic 
security. In the last few years the women of 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 249 

Turkey and India are seeking education, and 
this, of course, spells freedom. A vision of the 
possible brotherhood of man is now defining 
itself all over the East. The dissipation of many 
superstitions by the teaching of modern science 
has been a factor in preparing for the industrial 
changes so evident in China and India. Many 
conferences on the social question are being held 
in various parts of the field. The gospel of 
social: service is being widely preached and prac- 
ticed even by the natives. All such movements 
are the crystallization of the Christian spirit and 
they are factors in the great missionary objective. 
They all look toward the ideal of a world where, 
as Du Bartas three centuries ago put it, "God's 
Omnipotence, His Justice, Knowledge, Love 
and Providence do act the parts." * 

(6) GROWTH OF THE NATIVE CHURCH 

It has always been clearly seen by mission 
boards but with misgivings that the native church 
should some day be "self-supporting, self-govern- 
ing and self-propagating." But this is unques- 
tioned now. Hence in the last fifteen years the 
"devolution of missionary administration" has be- 
come a burning question. Having taken such 
firm and effective hold of the growing churches 
the problem now is how to let go gracefully. 



250 PROGRESS 

Everywhere more authority is demanded by the 
native Christians. As factors in this mighty 
movement, we may name the growing spirit of 
nationalism, the rapid rise of native leaders, the 
mass movements towards Christianity and the in- 
crease of economic independence. It is now 
accepted that "the missionaries must decrease 
while the native leaders increase," to use the 
words of Dr. White of the Presbyterian Board. 

(7) CHRISTIAN UNION 

With better education the native leaders began 
to comment on the sectarianism of the mission- 
aries. To them divisions have become absurd and, 
in the face of the evils to be combatted, sinful. 
The missionaries themselves have been cemented 
together by the formidableness of the obstacles. 
Hence the union movement has been greatly ad- 
vanced and the merging centers are many. The 
"South India United Church" was founded in 
1908. A plan for the federation of all the Indian 
churches was adopted at an interdenominational 
conference in 1911. Japan has had a united 
church for thirty years. The "West China Chris- 
tian Church" is now being wisely projected and 
ardently supported and there is an insistent 
demand for a great "Christian Church of China." 
The Christians of the home land have believed, 



MISSIONARY HISTORY 251 

and with good reasons, that Christian union 
would be realized abroad before it would at home. 
Thus the wonderful cause of world-wide mis- 
sions advances at an ever-increasing rate. A 
mighty tide of wealth rolls up to meet the needs ; 
an ever- enlarging volume of influence, energy 
and scholarship is being devoted to the enlight- 
ening of the backward nations. "The missionary 
of today is coming to his own," said the late 
James Brierly. "He is emerging from the 
doubtful celebrity of denominational reports 
and applause of conventicles, into a place full in 
the popular eye. He is talked of in the news- 
papers ; he is acknowledged in science ; he enters 
into the calculations of statesmen; he is recog- 
nized as a permanent factor in the remaking of 
the world; he is a representative of Christianity 
on its aggressive conquering side." And, as he 
emerges, he is bringing with him the richest 
trophies of human life and national salvation, 
that the world has ever seen, to lay humbly at 
the feet of his Master. 

Frederick E. Ltjmley. 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING FOR 
TWENTY YEARS 

OREACHING in America during the past 
A two decades has been modified by three influ- 
ences which we shall consider in a rising scale of 
importance. 

I. THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN ADVERTISING 

Twenty years ago the kind of advertising, 
which we know today, was taking its rise. Then 
business men sought attention in a mild sort of 
way, but the present-day art was not matured. 
Windows held attractive goods then, but the 
wonderful ability to shout to thousands by means 
of newspapers, magazines and billboards was not 
developed. Today, with the many interests of 
men, clever schemes have been devised to attract 
attention. An automobile company will gladly 
pay ten thousand dollars for a single page in a 
single issue. Electric signs flash the values of 
breakfast foods, while beautiful pictures make 
soaps and pianos attractive. The jaded reader 
is stimulated by bargain advertisements. Getting 
attention, getting the customer to the counter 
and selling the goods has become an art, a well- 
developed, brainy art. Men are paid large 

252 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING 253 

salaries for writing advertisements. Few fields 
offer greater inducements for enterprise and 
brilliance. 

The pulpit, more or less consciously, has been 
influenced by this developing atmosphere. When 
all is said and done, the preacher's task is one of 
salesmanship. He must find his customer; he 
must get him within the building; he must per- 
suade him to "lay hold on eternal life." A suc- 
cessful minister must have all the qualities of a 
successful salesman. To say this is not to drag 
down the holy church. Any man worth while, 
who gives his life to the ministry, intends to get 
an answer to the prayer, "Thy kingdom come. ,, 
He intends to use every legitimate means to 
extend the business of the Father. Therefore we 
are not surprised when one of our ministers is 
called, this summer, into the national convention 
of advertising men to discuss the subject, "How 
to Put a City Church on the Map." 

The newspaper and the electric sign have been 
subsidized by the church. Architecture, music, 
clever speech have been used to gain attention. 
That is the problem — to get attention. While 
the crowds stream past your open doors, while 
only a little handful of saints is in the pew, the 
business is comparatively a failure. The church 
can be like a little, obsolete shop on a side street, 



254 PROGRESS 

with a few customers, or it can be like a big de- 
partment store in the heart of town thronged 
with purchasers. Not only a few, but practically 
all ministers, have felt and yielded to this influ- 
ence. 

The effect upon preaching is marked — more 
marked than at first appears. To gain attention 
the minister takes an attractive theme. The 
extreme of this is sensationalism, which has 
reached its limit in the past twenty years. But 
putting that aside without remark, there is no sin 
in making your subject attractive. The danger 
consists, however, in neglecting fundamental 
things, in avoiding cumulative teaching in broad 
and deep ways. Current events influence the 
choice of subjects until the pulpit is severely 
criticised for seeking to rival the popular maga- 
zine. That the pulpit has been greatly influenced 
by this modern atmosphere no one can doubt. 
To a certain extent the pulpit is bound to be 
modified in the choice of themes by the great 
movements of the time. The people have a right 
to demand, in days of war, that the pulpit shall 
give the Christian philosophy of war and peace. 
Beecher, the king of all preachers, kept in close 
touch with the world-movements of his day. But 
there has been a pettiness, in many pulpits, in 
catering to local and transient affairs. Having 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING 255 

advertised a catchy subject the minister cannot 
use the same old material. To a degree he must 
deliver what he has promised, else he will soon be 
avoided. Advertising today is upon a high plane 
and it is a recognized principle that the goods 
must be honest. To take an old sermon out of 
the barrel and paste on a sensational title is not 
only dishonest, but worthless advertising. There- 
fore the very warp and woof of the sermon mate- 
rial is definitely fashioned by the advertising 
spirit which pervades all life. 

The most serious angle of this truth is found 
when you consider how many sermons are built 
up around some brilliant epigram, some scin- 
tillating half-truth, some bright and striking 
quarter- truth ! Study the subjects, displayed in, 
the Saturday edition, with an eye single to this 
idea and notice how, "Safety First," "Follow the 
Flag," "Preparedness," "Watch Your Step," 
"The 1917 Model," "The Goer or the Goner," 
"The Hymn of Hate," "Walk Rite," "M. U. 
F.," and such subjects have prominent place. 
I am not saying that excellent sermons might 
not be preached from any of these titles, but I 
am saying that subjects thus chosen and deter- 
mined must result in a confused and scrambled 
theology. Unless one has a very definite ground 
work for his faith he is bound to arrive nowhere 

17 



25Q PROGRESS 

and, very likely, will preach sermons which will 
absolutely contradict one another. Who can 
doubt that thousands of preachers, under the 
spell of attracting the crowd, at any cost, save 
complete surrender, are buffeted about from one 
point of view to another, from one epigram to 
another, from one current event to another, to 
the very great detriment of consistent, construc- 
tive work? 

It is entirely right for the pulpit to advertise ; 
it was never more imperative that attention be 
drawn to the church. To "put the church on the 
map" is laudable. Clever language, good music, 
beautiful architecture, flashing signs are more 
often than not the vehicles for excellent, thor- 
ough-going, Christian ideas. To make ten people 
hear where one slept before is good business for 
God. To dress your ideas in the bright garments 
of modern speech rather than in the ludicrous 
habiliments of ancient terminology is wise. 
Crowds must be won. Attention must be secured 
for the gospel. Advertising is gaining every 
day. Better men and better methods are being- 
employed. Only honest goods can survive. The 
minister who has convictions, who is a master of 
psychology, who yearns to reach the throngs of 
people for his Lord, has a supreme opportunity 
in this epoch of advertising. The dangers are 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING 257 

those of sensationalism and of scrappy, incon- 
sistent work. Subtly and gradually during the 
past two decades sermons have been fashioned 
under the spell of developing advertising. 
"What will get the crowd?" has been a deter- 
mining factor. It has delivered preaching from 
dullness, it has made it compete with the best the 
world has to offer, it has exposed it to grave 
dangers, it has wrought numberless follies, but 
altogether it has been a great gain. 

II. THE INFLUENCE OF THE NEW METHOD OF 
BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION 

On a recent morning I rode into Philadelphia 
in the same Pullman with one of our city's 
biggest engineers. If I should tell you his name 
you would immediately recognize him as a man 
who has few peers in the scientific world. 
Graciously he invited me to share his seat and 
complimented me by talking about religion only. 
Arriving at Broad Street he invited me to break- 
fast with him and told me how for twenty-two 
years he had been a member of an orthodox 
church, but how, about one year ago, he had 
entered the Unitarian communion, where he is 
enjoying a glorious freedom. Leaving him, I 
could not but wonder whether he was perfectly 
at home in a church which made so little of the 



258 PROGRESS 

divinity of our Lord, and was perfectly con- 
vinced that had that orthodox church but sympa- 
thized with his soul-struggles, he might have been 
kept in the ranks of the Evangelical movement. 

His case is typical of hundreds of thousands. 
I do not mean to say that all scholars are liberals. 
We gain nothing by claiming too much either 
for ourselves or for the Bible ! Nor do I mean to 
suggest that the Unitarians are nearer the truth. 
I do not believe they are. For my part I much 
prefer solid, invincible, rock-ribbed orthodoxy, 
which is grounded in faith in the Lordship of 
Jesus, to that variety of so-called liberalism 
which is content with a Christ of less than maxi- 
mum power and divinity. But between the two 
extremes lies the safe and sane course. 

Twenty years ago many of us came for the 
first time upon the trail of those brilliant knights 
who were championing Higher Criticism. Some 
of us were so fortunate as to have broad-minded 
teachers who taught us not to fear the quest of 
truth, who led us safely into the mysteries of the 
new order. How can we ever thank such teachers 
enough! They saved our faith. They made it 
possible for us to preserve the old truth and to 
welcome the new. Even today, after the battle 
of Higher Criticism has been fought, there are 
many who fear the thing as a bogey. We who 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING 259 

have passed through the fray, and who have suf- 
fered wounds for our cause, know that the issue 
was not one-sided. So-called orthodoxy has not 
been routed. Radicalism has not been victorious. 
Both have been permanently changed. Today 
we hear of "assured results" ; and, while there is 
some difference of opinion as to just what these 
are, yet there is, among scholars, a fair agree- 
ment. Looking back over twenty years, how- 
ever, the church in America, while not as liberal 
as that of England, recognizes a great differ- 
ence in theology and biblical interpretation. 
This difference favors liberal interpretation 
strongly. 

Beecher, Bushnell and Brooks had done much 
to liberalize theology, but the real cleansing 
thunder-storm has broken and passed on within 
our period. The black clouds have rolled away, 
the air is sweet, the flowers hold diamonds of dew 
and the birds sing. The world is brighter and 
fairer. 

The historical method of Bible study, the 
method of Higher Criticism, has, like every other 
movement, gone too far, and in these last years 
we have witnessed a gradual settling down to the 
solid truths. Unfortunately there were some 
irreverent scholars who did irreparable harm to 
the cause. There were, also, many unwise young 



260 PROGRESS 

disciples of the new way who by their smartness 
and small-heartedness stirred up antagonism for 
a worthy method. 

But among the informed the method, if not all 
of the results, is accredited. Thinking men and 
women everywhere are in sympathy with the 
higher critical way of finding out the truth about 
the Bible. The fearful are beginning to realize 
that nothing of value is lost. Higher Criticism 
is not the same thing as destructive criticism. 
It does not destroy but fulfill. To find out what 
the Book says about itself, to ascertain the polit- 
ical periods into which it falls, to learn all that is 
possible about the whole world of that epoch, to 
determine if possible by the canons of literary 
criticism who the writers were, to find out their 
motives and objects, to make them live again in 
the light of their own times — all of this, which is 
Higher Criticism, is to vitalize and make inter- 
esting the Book of books, particularly when this 
work is done by those whose scholarship is 
reverent and noble, who love Jesus Christ with 
an undying passion, and who seek only the glory 
and upbuilding of the church. 

The church must retain the respect of scholars. 
Physicians, attorneys, teachers welcome the 
truth, search for new light, hail with apprecia- 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING 261 

tion those who by research bring new truth to 
light. Shall preachers alone be blind 1 guides? 
Shall the pulpit alone worship darkness? Shall 
preachers alone call down anathemas upon the 
heads of those who believe that all truth is of 
God? Even Pastor Robinson, leading forth his 
Pilgrim band, could say, "There is still more 
light to break from the Word of God." 

Dr. Gordon tells a beautiful story of how a 
rich, old fresco was found in the Vatican. The 
monks had covered it over with their miserable 
daubs, and, finally some man, in disgust, had 
covered the whole with white-wash. Reverent 
and appreciative hands slowly, painfully and 
scientifically removed the outer layers, revealing, 
at last, the gold and red of the master, under all. 
Thus has modern scholarship removed the 
mediaeval lore, the monkish tradition, the human 
theology of the middle ages and revealed to us 
the real Jesus — divine and human — who thus 
seen will draw all men unto himself. 

Let it be said, once and for all, with tremen- 
dous emphasis, that there is nothing in Higher 
Criticism that detracts from the divinity of 
Jesus, from the inspiration of the Bible, from 
the evangelistic note, from individual piety. On 
the other hand, this method makes Christ more 



262 PROGRESS 

attractive, the Bible more illuminating, the quest 
of souls more worth while. 

As the sound of the battle recedes, as the 
adjustments between orthodoxy and liberalism 
are being effected, and the fear subsides, when 
we come face to face with reality, a constantly 
increasing number of preachers are finding a new 
joy in their message. The word to describe this 
new message is "vital." Orthodoxy is forgot- 
ten, liberalism is forgotten, while the man in 
the pulpit rejoices in the vitality, the winning 
force, the divine energy in his word. It con- 
vinces and convicts, it comforts and soothes, it 
demolishes sin, it brings in the Kingdom of God. 
There is nothing second-hand about it ; it is born 
of real experience. It gushes from the heart 
like a living fountain even as Jesus promised. 
Creeds melt away, human swathings of truth are 
removed, shutters are broken down, the glorious 
light of truth pervades all. Fear vanishes; 
unshaken faith, the product of experience, 
appears. Christ becomes real and close. The 
Bible fits human needs. Its inspiration is un- 
questioned because we feel it and live by it. This 
profound change has come about largely within 
our period. The day is already here when there 
need be no misunderstanding between hostile 
camps. The best of the old is saved, the best of 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING 263 

the new is accepted; the pulpit is immeasurably 
benefited. 

III. THE INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIAL SERVICE IDEA 

Ideas, ideas, ideas — they move the universe. 
A new idea marks a new epoch. By all odds the 
greatest idea which has dawned upon the world in 
recent years is that of social service. The term 
is a trifle thread-bare but I do not apologize for 
it. The idea is social; it demands service. This 
idea has transformed the modern pulpit. A 
recent issue of a journal put out by one of the 
most conservative denominations bitterly com- 
plains because a little boy was taught about clean 
streets in Sunday school and because a sorrow- 
ing widow was crushed beneath the burden of a 
sermon on "Visiting Nurses." The implication 
being that Christ was utterly avoided. This is 
not true; Christ has been discovered as a social 
server. No one would deny that extremists have, 
again, done violence to the truth. It would in- 
deed be a tragedy if boys learned nothing but 
truth about social agencies in Sunday school, 
although the widow may have found the surest 
cure for her sorrow in visiting the sick and dis- 
couraged. 

The calm thinker, however, recognizes that the 
whole source of our social service teaching has 



264 PROGRESS 

been found in Jesus. He went about doing good, 
he healed men. During the past twenty years, 
then, the church has become Christocentric in- 
stead of creedocentric. Today, thank God, the 
church lives and works close to real life. Never 
in the world's history were there so many sermons 
that touch men where they live, never so 
much sympathy for the oppressed, never so much 
money for philanthropy. The whole missionary 
program has been wonderfully stimulated by this 
social conception. The whole emphasis today is 
upon that which we call of "human-inter est." 

" Tis life of which our souls are scant, 
More life and fuller that we want." 

Dreamy speculations, morbid otherworldli- 
ness, dusty doctrines, embalmed theology, de- 
nominational shibboleths, stories of thousand- 
year-old saints, unrelated to our experience — all 
of this is out of date. What is demanded today 
is a vital Christ for present day needs. So today 
you see the preacher reforming his community, 
fighting against the saloons, not fearful of 
politics, championing better homes, more play- 
grounds, summer outing camps, raising money 
for milk and ice for poor babies (how Christ- 
like!), and even insisting that marriage certifi- 
cates shall proclaim clean lives. This is the era 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING 265 

of Josiah Strong, Shailer Mathews, Charles 
Richmond Henderson and Walter Rauschen- 
busch. 

Given a divine and vital Jesus and a social 
interest among preachers and we can win the 
whole wide world. 

A survey of preachers today is very encourag- 
ing. The average of education was never so 
high. For the most part one is proud of the 
ministers. They are brave, upstanding men, not 
afraid of hard work and small salaries. Heroic 
examples are common. Better sermons are being 
preached today than have been preached since 
apostolic days. The sermons are full of Christ. 
Christ crucified means social service on the part 
of preacher and laymen. The preaching of to- 
day fills pews, recognizes scholarship, serves the 
actual spiritual and bodily needs of men. It 
convicts, inspires, sustains, comforts, impells, 
guides. It gives men hope, faith, courage and 
love. It does not tease you to do right; it makes 
you want to be right. In the day of the great 
war it prepares for peace ; it emphasizes the value 
of inner wealth; it shows how materialism is a 
dumb idol and points the way to the spiritual 
good. 

There is no cause for pessimism in this survey. 
The pulpit is gaining in power. The man behind 



%66 PROGRESS 

the desk is the man in front of every good work. 
The preacher of today possesses the love of truth 
and the love of souls. A composite picture of the 
American preacher would reveal a strong-faced 
man of good physique and of marked intellectu- 
ality; courage and energy would be seen written 
upon his honest face; the signs of hard work 
would also be chiseled there. To look upon him 
would be to trust him, for you would feel that 
he would be your spiritual guide, your champion 
of the oppressed, your inspiration to live like the 
Master, and, dying, you would want such a man 
to look into your closing eyes and clasp your 
relaxing hand in that strong one of his. 

John Ray Ewees. 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 

HpHE benefits conferred by science upon our 
religion are many and various, positive and 
negative, general and particular. Science has 
introduced into religion a more tolerant spirit 
everywhere, has cleansed it of superstition, has 
not only accepted the postulate of God, but 
makes him necessarily immanent, has magnified 
the Fatherhood of God by studies in comparative 
religion, has defined the scope and authority of 
religion, and, at the same time, by the limitation 
of the scientific method to sensuous observation 
and to measurement, has left religion to deal in 
its own way with spiritual phenomena, with ori- 
gins, and with values except simplicity of descrip- 
tion, thus leaving virtually intact those great 
fundamental beliefs of Christianity. To see 
more specifically how this is true we will, first, 
briefly describe the nature of scientific knowl- 
edge, and then examine equally briefly some of 
the contributions of science to the modification 
of salient religious conceptions. 

Possibly, at the very beginning of our discus- 
sion, we should answer the really primary ques- 
tion asked in this age of ascendant science: Is it 
longer possible to hold to any faith whatsoever? 

267 



268 PROGRESS 

Should we not adopt the attitude of many sci- 
entists, notably of Huxley, and consider it almost 
criminal to believe in the absence of convincing 
testimony, holding, until such testimony arrives, 
to an invincible agnosticism? Let us examine 
science itself for the answer to see if we can dis- 
cover any threads of faith among the pure gold 
of truth, and thus be assured that if we discover 
faith in science, then surely we can take heart 
and continue in the faith of our fathers in reli- 
gious matters. 

The construction of science can be rendered 
simple enough. It is said to be made up of facts, 
hypotheses, and laws based upon the facts. The 
facts have their elements of faith, but we will not 
stop with them. The hypotheses are beliefs so 
frankly confessed that we need not stop to prove 
their tentativeness. We will hasten on to the 
natural laws which form the finished product of 
science and which are supposed to form such 
impregnable barriers against those who would 
scale the walls of heaven by faith. Brevity 
compels us to quote authorities rather than to 
analyze the situation, and to quote only a few of 
them. 

Are natural laws discovered? Or, are they 
made? Karl Pearson, who certainly cannot be 
called a friend of either theological or metaphys- 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 269 

ical speculation, says, "We are accustomed to 
speak of scientific law, or at any rate of one form 
of it, termed 'natural law' as something univer- 
sally valid," and adds that some assert such law 
"has a validity quite independent of the human 
minds which formulate, demonstrate, or accept 
it." Does it have such independent existence or 
not? Did gravitation guide the planets before 
Newton came and did he happily light upon this 
hitherto unknown force as a discoverer upon a 
new continent? Pearson replies, "The law of 
gravitation is not so much the discovery by New- 
ton of a rule guiding the motion of planets as 
his invention of a method of briefly describing 
the sequence of sense impressions which we call 
planetary motion. . . . The statement of his dis- 
covery was not so much the discovery as the crea- 
tion of the law of gravitation. . . . There is 
more meaning in the statement that man gives 
laws to Nature than in its converse that Nature 
gives laws to man." The first result for us to 
gain is then the truth that natural law far from 
being an ironclad necessity of implacable "na- 
ture" is a product of man's "creative imagina- 
tion." 

Why then do men accept these laws? "Be- 
cause," is usually the answer, "they are true and 
certain beyond the peradventure of a doubt!" 



270 PROGRESS 

That such an answer does not fully cover the 
case is best evidenced in those instances where 
it is possible to accept two scientific theories, each 
equally true and each fitting equally well all the 
facts in the case. For example, hardly anybody 
today doubts the supreme law of the heavens 
which makes the earth revolve around the sun. 
Yet for fifteen hundred years men believed and 
taught the opposite. Then, without the discov- 
ery of one new fact scientists formulated a totally 
opposite doctrine and maintained it even at the 
risk of their lives. Why this sudden change? 
Had the old facts changed? Were new facts 
discovered by Copernicus ? Xo ; and as Mach has 
suggested, the old Ptolemaic system which made 
the sun move, and which Huxley later declared 
was "utterly at variance with fact" remained just 
as "tine" as the Copernican system which sup- 
planted it. Both fitted all the facts then known; 
both were equally true. Why, then, was one so 
eagerly accepted and the other so decisively re- 
jected? Simply because, as Mach, Singer, 
Pearson, Rice, and others say, the Copernican 
system was simpler. 

Lest we seem to prove this critical point by 
only one example let us turn to mathematics. 
Surely geometry is "true" past dispute. Upon 
its axioms are grounded nearly all higher mathe- 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 271 

matics and a great deal of science. Yet D. 
Stecker writes: "In brief, mathematicians have 
long since learned that there are several systems 
of geometry, each consistent with all the facts of 
experience. Euclid's is the simplest of these sys- 
tems, and we use it because it is the simplest, 
and for no other reason. Which of these systems 
is the true geometry of our space we cannot, in 
the nature of things, know." 

Science, then, seeks not bare truth but simple 
truth. Natural laws are simple descriptions of 
nature. But do we know that nature is simple ? 
Poincare, the greatest mathematician of our day, 
answers, "Let us first of all observe that every 
generalization supposes in a certain measure a 
belief in the unity and simplicity of Nature. As 
far as the unity is concerned, there can be no 
difficulty. . . . As for the second point, that is 
not so clear. It is not certain that Nature is sim- 
ple. Can we without danger act as if she were?" 
He thinks we must so act though simplicity and 
multiplicity do struggle against each other. 
"Here, then," he goes on, "are two opposing ten- 
dencies, each of which seems to triumph in turn. 
Which will win? If the first wins, science is pos- 
sible; but nothing proves this a priori. ... In 
fact, we can give this question no answer." Faith, 
then, is an inherent and necessary working part 

18 



272 PROGRESS 

of science, and without it no view of the universe 
can be formulated. 

And finally, if further evidence that such faith 
is akin to religious faith be needed, let us add the 
words of Dr. Jacoby, Professor of Astronomy 
in Columbia University, "Therefore is it possible 
for science, like religion, to believe something not 
logically proven? Science today has attained 
only to the portal of knowledge : when her forces 
shall have stormed the citadel, when she shall 
stand upon the deepest foundation stone of truth 
attainable by man, she will find, surely, that stone 
bedded upon some kind of faith, some belief 
outside the domain of rigid logic." 

I need hardly remind the reader that Chris- 
tian faith is based upon observation by the 
senses (Romans 10:17); that it has its hypotheses 
awaiting proof and its assured natural laws (Heb. 
11:1); and is also actuated by its element of 
desire (Gal. 5:6) even as science has a "desire for 
maximum unity that we struggle to satisfy and 
the gratification of which consitutes the truth of 
an interpretation." 

BEING AND IDEA OF GOD 

From the point of view just described science is 
one grand search for God. It is the answer to the 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 273 

"need felt by men of science" to find "some One 
Thing out of whose qualities or properties might 
proceed all that is." Unless that One can be 
found the whole structure of modern science 
collapses into dismal ruin. Therefore, science 
boldly posits its God, call it Unity, Energy, or 
what not. It must be. In this, science is thor- 
oughly seconded by the rationalistic argument 
which says Something is, for the opposite is incon- 
ceivable. Science, metaphysics and religion are all 
agreed then upon the necessary existence of God. 

When science and religion have agreed that 
God is, they next come to the problem of 
forming an idea of him. Note here that both 
agree upon emphasizing as primary not what he 
is, but what he does. If he acts mechanically, 
he is matter; if he acts rationally, he is mind. 
Science was formerly frankly materialistic, but 
in recent years it has exhibited a marked leaning 
toward idealism. 

One fundamental reason for the change is the 
new concept of natural laws noted above. They 
no longer come from autocratic Nature but are 
handed to Nature by the creative imagination of 
man. Their essence is not factual but mental. 
Facts, as it were, are boiled down, their essence 
retained, and the dregs poured off. Even all 



274 PROGRESS 

that remains is not accepted. Simplicity, an 
abstract idea, decides which shall ultimately be 
accepted. The attribute "simple" is a relation 
not discerned by the senses. Karl Pearson voices 
the new truth when he says, "Let it be noted that 
in this it is not only the process of reaching sci- 
entific law which is mental, but that the law itself 
when reached involves an association of natural 
facts or phenomena with mental conceptions, 
lying quite outside the field of those particular 
phenomena. Without the mental conceptions 
the law could not be ; and it only comes into exist- 
ence when these mental conceptions are first asso- 
cited with the phenomena." 

It will be noted that the above idealistic ele- 
ments form a part of science itself. They are 
not merely speculative contributions forming the 
background of physics but essentially a part of 
all positive knowledge. But this recognition of 
idealism in science does not stop there. Natur- 
ally, it reflects itself into the background of 
science; into scientists' views of the whole uni- 
verse. The above quoted writer, for example, 
says facts themselves are merely sensations. 
"Matter," either as an ultimate thing in itself, or 
as a concept is no longer necessary to any of the 
sciences. The facts of the world are sensations. 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 275 

Impenetrability, for instance, as a fact, is a feel- 
ing of push; as a scientific fact, a sensation of 
sight in a series of perceptions called a measuring 
scale. The ultimate atom of science is a product 
of the imagination. The substance of the world 
is Mind. Kepler's poetic fancy of thinking 
God's thoughts after him has become literally 
true of men of science. 

This idealistic tendency has, of course, been 
reflected in religion. It is no longer difficult, as 
it was during the last half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury when a crass materialism ruled, for men now 
to think of God as Mind and to perceive that 
Mind at work in his world. Such a position is 
not universal, nor even common, but it is growing 
increasingly easier to take it because science 
offers no inherent objection to it and because 
reflection upon the meaning and the concepts of 
the sciences urges thinkers in that direction. 
Once it is admitted that God is Mind it becomes 
practically impossible to believe he is not rational. 
Though chance or chaos may reign in nature as 
a thing in itself, still the human mind that intro- 
duces order there is God's creation. That guar- 
antees his rationality. Besides, the biological 
world shows evidences hard to refute of the pres- 
ence of an originator and designer. These 



276 PROGRESS 

evidences we will see in our study of the scientific 
conception of Jesus. 

JESUS AND EVOLUTION 

The divinity of Christ has received its share 
of attention from science. When evolution first 
was invented as a method of genetic classifica- 
tion, many men leaped to the conclusion that the 
divinity of Christ must disappear under the 
search of the new theory of explanation offered 
for the origin of men and animals. Evolution at 
first thought it could explain the origin of all 
things, or nearly so. Darwin, it is true, required 
a few ancestral forms ; but Tyndall needed only 
a drop of slime, and Laplace wanted only some 
star-dust. But since then evolution has had time 
to submit itself to a searching analysis and has 
radically modified those earlier claims. De Vries 
put the matter in a nutshell in his epigram: "It 
is not the survival of the fittest, but the arrival 
of the fittest that puzzles us." Whatever "The 
Origin of Species" did explain, it did not ex- 
plain the origin of any species; simply because 
science cannot explain the origin of anything 
from the fluidic beginnings of a massive cosmos 
to the simplest blade of grass springing to life 
upon a spring-touched meadow. Lest this state- 
ment smack too much of the dogmatism with 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 277 

which religion has always been upbraided, let 
me but call the attention of the reader to the 
discussions still going on upon the subject of 
origins ; to the radical modification of Darwinism 
by De Vries' instantly originating species of 
primroses; to such attempts at explanation as 
the "structural proclivity" of Spencer, the "bath- 
mism" of Cope, the "pangenesis" of Darwin, 
and the "continuity of germ-plasm" theory of 
Weissmann with his ids, iddants, and determin- 
ants; and finally to that perfect Hegelian pro- 
gression in history from the old flat creation, 
through the antithetic, materialistic evolution, to 
the present-day Bergsonian synthesis "creative- 
evolution" in which every succeeding moment of 
the universe contains within it something abso- 
lutely new. 

Science does not explain the origin of anything 
because by the nature of the case it cannot. In 
the biological realm science "explains" by refer- 
ring a consequent to an antecedent. A real 
beginning could not have an antecedent, since it 
is first. We accept the patent fact that "like 
tends to beget like;" why nobody knows. It is a 
mystery equal to that other mystery: Every 
organism is unlike its parents. "We have still 
to confess our ignorance," says J. A. Thomson, 
"of how to solve the old problems: How are the 



278 PROGRESS 

characteristics of the organism potentially con- 
tained within the germ-cells ? How do they grad- 
ually find expression in the development? What 
is the nature of compelling necessity that mints 
and coins the chick out of the drop of living 
matter? The solution is still far off, and perhaps 
we shall never get beyond saying that a germ-cell 
has the power of developing just as a crystal has 
the power of growing." All scientists, however, 
do not perceive so clearly or state so frankly their 
ignorance. They call new beings "germinal vari- 
ations" or "mutations," or use other descriptive 
terms, which do not explain. True science is 
silent on the fact of origins, and in that silence 
the faithful are privileged to hear the clear, small 
voice of God, the Creator and Maker of man- 
kind after his own image. The process of biolog- 
ical unfolding is a creative-evolution wherein the 
Primal Energy expresses himself in just that 
freedom and restraint expected of a rational 
Mind. 

From this point of view, two conclusions result. 
God is a designer; and, Jesus, the man, was a 
"germinal variation," a special creation, and, as 
LeConte suggested, a new and spiritual power 
introduced into the evolutionary order of things, 
that the conscious evolution, elaborated by Wal- 
lace, might raise men to a loftier plane than 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 279 

mechanical evolution ever could. That the ideals 
of Jesus, endued with the power of his life, have 
played a masterly part in the evolution of our 
civilization quite out of line with man's natural 
disposition is amply witnessed by Nietzsche's 
demand for a total revaluation of the standards 
now ruling the civilized world. Science can offer 
no objection to the statement that Jesus Christ 
is the Son of God in a unique sense, and is also a 
man specially empowered for a special part and 
purpose in God's plan for the world. 

On the other hand, it must not be forgotten 
that the earlier evolution, by its examination of 
the origin of Jesus, forced theologians to formu- 
late a new conception of his divinity. The older 
conception made him divine because he was one 
substance with his God. When evolution insisted 
he was one substance with the Jews, theologians 
boldly reversed their order and began to ask, not 
if Jesus is God-like, but if our idea of God is 
Christ-like. Jesus thus becomes God in a new 
and more practical sense. What he has been to 
the evolution of Christian civilization he now 
becomes to the individual believer, a savior and 
an ideal working in the usual manner of ideals 
to regenerate men. Any guarantee that any 
mind may require to any additional meaning of 
his divinity is furnished by the work he has done 



280 PROGRESS 

and is doing in the world. Science, therefore, 
by its earlier attack upon Jesus' divinity, then by 
its later discovery of its own inability to explain 
any origins, and finally by forcing a new concep- 
tion of Jesus' divinity, has invested him with a 
more wholesome godliness and deepened the mys- 
tery of his person. 

THE MIRACLE OF PRAYER 

Just as Jesus illustrates in himself a more pro- 
found mystery inexplicable to science, so prayer 
proposes a larger problem to the scientist than 
the one that appears upon the surface. If a peti- 
tion to God is answered, that answer involves 
either a miracle or a total readjustment of the 
older science, or both. Let us see what science has 
done in the last quarter century for prayer. By 
prayer we mean petition and we will consider 
first, the reflex effect upon the petitioner, sec- 
ondly, upon other sentient beings; and thirdly, 
upon inanimate nature. 

First, no one now denies this reflex effect. 
Modern psychology accepts as an axiom the 
statement that minds do affect their own bodies 
directly, and even goes as far as to surmise that 
mind and body are ultimately one. So trite ap- 
pears this statement that the reader must be 
reminded of the almost unbelievable fact that 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 281 

Huxley who exerted such a powerful influence 
upon the scientific, metaphysical, and religious 
worlds of the last century, denied this truism 
flatly ; and that Clifford, the physicist, scofnngly 
asserted that a bare idea could as well link to- 
gether two coaches in a train as bring about the 
movement of a muscle. All of this is now 
changed. Ideo-motor action is admitted. A 
movement follows immediately upon the idea of 
that movement unless it is inhibited by another 
idea. Ideas, then, couched in petitions, have their 
motive forces and affect first of all, the petition- 
er's own actions, and then the actions of those 
who hear and understand his prayer. What are 
the powers of such suggestion and how far their 
ramifications extend, how they have averted 
wars, saved cities, subdued nations, and moulded 
history for centuries are all too common to excite 
interest, yet every such influence is as inexpli- 
cable, indescribable and miraculous as if God com- 
manded it with a vocal voice from heaven. Fur- 
ther, this is the same suggestion that moves men 
in hypnotism, that causes cold iron to blister and 
cold water to scald, that enables ears to hear 
through walls of stone, cracker-dust to taste 
sweet or sour, men to become drunk on colored 
water, to stab their friends with paper daggers, 
to harden like stone statues, to bring upon their 



282 PROGRESS 

bodies the bleeding marks of the crucifixion, to 
grow moribund with the cold of death and with 
no heart-beat or breath, to lie buried under- 
ground and come to life again, and so on through' 
yet other equally astounding miracles. 

Still, to these wonderful exploits of the same 
power that operates in prayer, other events even 
more marvelous are added by modern scientific 
research. This ifleld is so new, so vaguely out- 
lined in its reaches and borders, that, possessed 
by that curious trait of human minds whether 
obsessed with religious or scientific dogmas, some 
scientists deny its existence altogether. But 
psychic research has been so dignified by such 
leaders as Professor Henry Sidgwick, Sir Oliver 
Lodge, Professor William James, and others 
equally noted, that it can lay claim to at least the 
attribute of careful scientific method in its inves- 
tigations. Those who are unacquainted with its 
findings may be surprised to hear that a mother's 
prayers for a wayward son at the other end of 
the world may reach him as directly as a wireless 
telegram may flit from a sender to a receiver, 
that minds may be read, that sensations of taste 
without word or sign from the one who is eating 
may be transmitted to the empty mouth of a sub- 
ject, and possibly even the conduct of animals 
may be controlled by thought-power alone. What 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 283 

all this portends no one can tell. Whether infin- 
ite worlds will be opened up for exploration, or 
only some residuum of old truth will remain after 
investigation and criticism have had their day, 
time alone can reveal. If radio-activity has 
shown that one breath contains the power to run 
all the workshops in the world, what may not be 
wrapt up in the soul-aspirations of the whole 
man? However it turns out, we can even now 
accept what psychology has done and psychic 
research is doing as giving an altogether new 
philosophy of prayer and lending a renewed 
impetus to the practice of prayer. 

But some of us with a large faith are not to be 
satisfied with these powers of prayer, mighty as 
they are. We wish to go beyond ourselves, be- 
yond even human beings and sentient creatures 
and directly or indirectly to remove mountains 
by petition. Is there any hope of affecting the 
physical world? Or, does science still hold us 
prisoners condemned by "natural laws" within 
the unyielding bounds of "natural forces"? 

Even prisoners have some powers. Paul in 
bonds could appeal to Caesar. Let us see if we 
have any rights within "natural law" to appeal 
against "natural forces." First, let it be remem- 
bered that the older scientific bug-bear of "nat- 
ural law" has much diminished in its frightful- 



284 PROGRESS 

ness. Natural laws are made by man, by his 
creative imagination, and are subject to constant 
revision in the light of new facts. Not one nat- 
ural law today known to science is surely and 
certainly final and absolute. Any one of them 
may be revised tomorrow. Secondly, all natural 
laws are hypothetical. Each contains an "if." 
If a stone is unsupported, if it is in a vacuum, if 
no other force acts upon it, it will fall with a 
certain acceleration. Thirdly, a natural law 
never exactly applies because conditions are 
never ideal. Fourthly, even if it applied from 
the beginning of time, it might fail the next time 
though all conditions were perfect. Fifthly, 
since human beings are in the world with wills 
and memories no next moment can be exactly like 
the last moment. 

Further, natural forces have been considered 
omnipotent adversaries to the answer of prayers. 
They appear to be so mighty in the face of one 
poor human being's puny petition. Yet a mo- 
ment's reflection reveals that the world is not 
dominated by one natural force, but is full of 
"natural forces" opposing one another in such 
ways as to balance exactly one another's effects. 
An infinitesimal force much too small to discover 
by any known instruments, applied, for example, 
to a radium atom at a certain moment, may 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 285 

explode it with the emission of thirteen million 
five hundred times as much heat as that let loose 
by any known chemical action. The same force 
applied to a falling seed might drift it to un- 
known shores, people a new land, change the des- 
tinies of races. In such situations the puniest 
prayer may be the critical factor. Further, 
wherever human beings are involved in such bal- 
anced systems, the human will, which can have 
no physically measurable force whatever, may 
side with one of two absolutely equivalent sets 
of forces and so bring about infinitely different 
results from those that might have been. The 
peasant-prisoner at Waterloo might have an- 
swered Napoleon with a nod requiring precisely 
the same energy as the one he gave and the his- 
tory of the world would have been changed. Such 
examples are innumerable. In the ordering of the 
infinitely complex play of "natural forces" by that 
Supreme Intelligence, what scientist can say that 
a petition flung out into the unstable systems of 
atoms or of suns may not add the mite of its 
force to the desired order of things and so create 
a new heaven and a new earth ? Since the discovery 
of radio-activities and the awesome possibilities 
wrapped up in atomic disintegration and the 
transmutation of metals, we dare not limit dog- 
matically the powers of man or the will of God. 



286 PROGRESS 

Finally, we come to the question of God's 
answering prayer directly by the performance of 
a miracle. Not so long ago such an event was 
thought to be impossible because miracles were 
thought to be impossible. Goethe, I think it was, 
said even though he saw with his own eyes water 
burn or a dead man come to life, he would not 
believe it. Such things, however, are matters of 
circumstances and definitions. Miracles may be 
conceived first as contraventions of natural law; 
secondly, as unusual or wonderful occurrences; 
thirdly, as events indescribable in a scientific 
sense, but in each case the act of God. The con- 
travention of natural law is not now looked upon 
as a very serious matter. As we noted above 
no natural law is absolute. The world is full 
of wonders. Men look through living flesh, talk 
across oceans, see a chick torn in two before their 
eyes and behold two living chicks rise from the 
halves, etc. The crooking of a finger is indescrib- 
able by science and a daily miracle. When in 
1903 Curie discovered that a gram of radium 
apparently without loss, could raise its own 
weight of water from freezing to boiling every 
hour, it was equivalent to finding "a red-hot stove 
which required no fuel to maintain it in heat." 
Finally, as science posits an Energy which is 
everywhere at all times, to which must be attrib- 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 287 

uted all change, no valid objection can be urged 
against miracles in any sense. The fact is, reli- 
gion is as loath to acknowledge miracles in the old 
sense of God's occasional and arbitrary interfer- 
ence as science is. And since religion expects 
God to answer specially only those prayers that 
are according to his will for the world, science 
interposes no objection. Since all phenomena 
are direct expressions of a God whose will is 
rational and power supreme some prayers con- 
sonant with the purpose of God or the good of 
mankind may be answered because they are 
uttered and for no other reason. Surely science 
offers no obstacle to any man's expression of his 
instinct to pray; and just as surely no one stulti- 
fies his intellect by praying. 

A LIFE AFTER DEATH 

As we saw in the first part of this paper, sci- 
ence has its faiths which spring up in answer to 
the desires of the human heart. Thoroughly in 
accord with this spirit are the words of Henry 
Ward Beecher when he says, "Man does not be- 
lieve in immortality because he has ever proved 
it, but he is all the time trying to prove it because 
he cannot help believing in it. The soul is the 
enigma. God and immortality are the solution." 

It is in this spirit that science has at last recog- 

19 



288 PROGRESS 

nized this quest of countless millions, this seeking 
by prophet, priest, seer, philosopher, and finally 
by the inductive investigator. The practically 
universal desire justifies here as elsewhere in sci- 
ence, the attempt to discover the truth. Likewise, 
according to Herbert Spencer's suggestion that 
when any belief has been held for a long time by 
many men, some foundation of truth must abide 
therein, the widespread and world-old belief in a 
life hereafter makes it a respectable subject for 
study. Groping instinct, superstitious sign, 
divine revelation, philosophic deduction, have all 
been invoked in the past to support this hope, 
and now at last comes inductive science, fearfully 
and hesitatingly, to lend its aid. 

Of sure results, we can offer little as yet, but 
we can say much for what science has done, first, 
in changing its utterly sceptical attitude of a 
generation ago, secondly, to the application of 
its method to the study of the problems, and, 
thirdly, of its present feeling that possibly there 
may be something in it. This condition has come 
about through the Societies of Psychical Re- 
search, both English and American, and to their 
infinitely painstaking sifting of evidence from all 
over the world. Space permits no detailed ac- 
count of any instances, but some of them have 
been the appearances of dead persons and 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 289 

messages delivered that seem to preclude 
the possibility of any conscious or unconscious 
deception and which demand for any explanation 
whatever, powers and means of communication 
heretofore altogether unknown. It is certainly 
conservative to agree with some of the greatest 
scientists in their expressed belief that the exist- 
ence of a future life beyond the grave may some 
day be established upon an inductive basis. 

SUMMARY 

To summarize briefly what modern science has 
done for religion, let us repeat that science recog- 
nizes its field and has compelled religion to rec- 
ognize its field. Science has strengthened men's 
faith in faith, has posited a God, has recognized 
its inability to answer the questions "Whence?" 
"Whither?" "What?" and "Why?" and has rec- 
ognized the validity of any widespread human 
demand for an answer to any hope in man. 
Concerning the divinity of Jesus, the answer to 
prayer, the possibility of miracles, science itself 
has swept away its old objections and has aided 
religion in clarifying and rendering practical 
these concepts. To the belief in immortality the 
scientific method, outside the domain of orthodox 
science, has rendered and is still rendering signal 
service. From all these considerations it is 



290 PROGRESS 

possible to understand why the greatest men of 
science, men whose mental energies were not 
consumed with their own specialties, were able to 
make the following affirmations. First, Pro- 
fessor Meehan voiced what is true of many stu- 
dents of science when he said, "Scientific studies 
have strengthened my faith, strengthened it 
indeed to an extent that no study besides could 
have effected." The same thought was voiced by 
Sir William Thomson: "Let nobody be afraid 
of true freedom of thought. Let us be free in 
thought and criticism ; but, with freedom, we are 
bound to come to the conclusion that science is 
not antagonistic to religion, but a help to it." 
Joseph Henry suggests the cure for feeling any 
antagonism between science and religion, in his 
words : "The person who thinks there can be any 
real conflict between science and religion must be 
either very young in science or very ignorant in 
religion." And finally, let our faith be staid by 
the calm dignity of Sir Oliver Lodge's nobly 
worded creed: "I believe in one infinite and 
eternal Being, a guiding and loving Father in 
whom all things consist. I believe that the divine 
nature is especially revealed to man through Jesus 
Christ, our Lord, who lived and suffered and 
taught in Palestine nineteen hundred years ago, 
and has since been worshiped by the Christian 



THE RELIGIOUS VALUE OF SCIENCE 291 

church as the immortal Son of God, the Savior 
of the world. I believe that man is privileged to 
understand and assist the divine purpose on this 
earth, that prayer is the means of communica- 
tion between man and God, and that the Holy 
Spirit is ever ready to help us along the way 
toward goodness and truth, so that by unselfish 
service we may gradually enter into the life eter- 
nal, the communion of saints and the peace of 
God." * 

Arthur Holmes. 



* The above quoted selections are from a collection made by 
Professor Thomas M. Iden, himself a physicist and Bible teacher. 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY THAT 
ARE SIGNIFICANT FOR RELIGION 

PHILOSOPHY has been defined as an "at- 
tempt everywhere to reconcile the religious 
view of the world with the scientific explanation 
of nature." * This reconciliation it seeks to ac- 
complish not by discrediting either science or 
religion, but by mediation. Its task is to allot to 
each a sphere within which its validity shall be 
acknowledged, without assuming for its view- 
point either totality, or exclusive finality. The 
truth must in some manner reconcile and include 
the outlooks of both the religious and the scientific 
types of mind. 

Until our time, philosophy has been more tol- 
erant than theology; it has likewise been more 
reverent than science. Its contributions in either 
direction have uniformly been such, therefore, as 
to widen opinion, and to discourage dogmatism. 
As a result, religion looks with more sympathy 
upon the conception of the reign of law in nature ; 
and science more readily concedes the possibility 
of freedom in the domain of the spirit. 

For the insight that has evolved this method, 

* Paulsen, Introduction to Philosophy, preface, p. xii. 
292 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 293 

we are indebted primarily to Kant. The solu- 
tion which he offered contains indeed much that 
was achieved in earlier times. But Kant both 
included this earlier thought and transcended it. 
This he did by distinguishing clearly between two 
radically different functions within conscious- 
ness, that of intellection and that of volition. It 
is the province of the intellect to register the 
world as an order of experiences subject to nec- 
essary limitations which the knowing conscious- 
ness imposes upon itself, these limitations being 
the laws of its own structure. Volition, on the 
other hand interprets the world in another but 
equally valid manner, in terms of ideals and of 
faith. Science is the result of the processes of 
intelleqtion. Religion is the companion inter- 
pretation of the same world, arising within 
the will. 

The significance of Kantian thought for reli- 
gion is both negative and positive. It sweeps 
aside as dogmatic and incompetent all so-called 
scientific evidences and historical and teleological 
proofs. But it at the same time and to equal 
effect denies to science the competence to negate 
the beliefs of religion upon the ground of their 
conflicting with its own claims. For those claims 
are themselves but an interpretation of the nature 
of things, arising out of the nature of conscious- 



294 PROGRESS 

ness. Religion must indeed, since Kant, stand 
upon other than the old foundations, derived 
from the Platonic confusion of ideas with neces- 
sary realities. It must also seek a wholly new 
intellectual formulation of its convictions from 
that which issued out of Platonic realism, or else 
it must, as Kant thought, abandon hope of intel- 
lectual apprehension and support entirely. 

For traditional and uncritical thinkers theol- 
ogy pursues the even tenor of its way. Their 
dogmatism remains unshaken; and revealed 
Scripture for them constitutes an order of knowl- 
edge different in origin and higher in kind than 
the knowledge of science. Religious philosophy 
is an impertinence therefore, save as it offers 
some key to the exegesis of Scripture, or supplies 
the historical background against which the doc- 
trines of revelation may be brought into clear 
relief. 

But for all who have comprehended Kant, reli- 
gious philosophy has a task no less momentous 
than the discovery of means other than revela- 
tion to validate the ideal hopes of mankind. 
Within the consciousness of the individual, or 
beneath it in some sub-conscious level, or in the 
mind of society, or in the universe at large is 
sought that which will reassure us concerning the 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 295 

security of those values that alone give meaning 
to life. 

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION 

With these specific issues, the philosophy of 
the century since Kant has been primarily con- 
cerned. Its attitude toward religion may well be 
the criterion of any system of recent thought. 
Philosophies have been affirmative, or negative, 
or agnostic, or positivistic, or their points of view 
have joined something of one with another of 
these attitudes. Yet every modern philosophy 
has emphasized at least for psychological rea- 
sons, the necessity of religion. Witness the Pos- 
itivism of Comte, the Naturalism of Spencer and 
the Materialism of Haeckel, each of which has 
proposed certain conceptions of a quasi-ideal 
character to serve instead of the deities which 
criticism is supposed to have destroyed. 

Besides its indebtedness to Kant, modern reli- 
gious thought has derived impulse from at least 
three other major tendencies. They are first, 
the historico-critical movement which has com- 
pelled our religion to newly evaluate its traditions 
and its Scriptures ; the second is the new knowl- 
edge of the religious beliefs and customs of man- 
kind in general, made available to Christianity 
in our time by the labors of scientists and the 



296 PROGRESS 

propagandists of the Christian faith; and the 
third is the scientific doctrine of evolution. These 
four, the Kantian metaphysic, the Higher Criti- 
cism, the inductive study of religion, and the 
evolutionary movement combine to constitute the 
problems of modern religious thought. 

(1) I shall attempt to classify the various 
tendencies I can mention in four groups. First 
of all are the Neo- Kantian thinkers, for whom 
duty is an inwardly derived imperative, while 
God, freedom and immortality remain ideals 
beyond the reach of proof or disproof. Religion 
is the faith that duty will be rewarded, and that 
values will be preserved by the Ideal Will. 
Thinkers of this type are the theologian Ritschl, 
HofFding, Yon Siebeck and Eucken in Germany. 
Professor Munsterberg's "Eternal Values" 
arises out of the transcendental idealism of the 
Neo-Kantians, but assumes a more positive 
epistemological attitude. Recent studies of the 
philosophy of values have developed widely dif- 
fering conclusions ; but all have arisen out of the 
will-philosophy of Kant. 

Neo-Kantian thought has communicated to 
religion the attitude of ethically serious agnos- 
ticism. It is the spirit of Tennyson's prologue — 

"We have but faith; we cannot know 
For knowledge is of things we see: 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 297 

And yet we trust it comes from thee, — 
A beam in darkness, — let it grow!" 

Or with Henley, it thanks whatever gods there 
be for its unconquerable soul. It is not the ag- 
nosticism of inertia, but of melioristic and heroic 
effort. It is not cocksure, but reverent. It is 
not complacent, but diligent. Fitche's "Vocation 
of Man," Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus," James' 
"Will to Believe," and Whittier's "godlike will to 
do" are expressions of it. 

CRITICISM AND MYSTICISM 

(2) A metaphysical movement that I shall 
call Neo-Romanticism has communicated its 
stimulus to a host of thinkers, and has developed 
tendencies of the most varied and far-reaching 
character. Originating historically with Schleier- 
macher, it conceives religion in terms of feeling, 
which it elevates to the level of epistemological 
validity. It finds in the regenerating experiences 
of the soul the immediate religious facts which 
revelation at best expresses at second hand. 

This movement in common with earlier roman- 
ticism conceives consciousness as arising out of 
a level of unclear, or nebulous instincts by a proc- 
ess of apperception or evolution. The study of 
this process has developed the modern science of 
psychology. The application of psychology to 



298 PROGRESS 

religion in turn has yielded a literature of almost 
unprecedented suggestiveness and value. The 
studies of James, Starbuck, Stanley Hall, Irving- 
King, Coe, Pratt, Davenport, Stratton and 
Ames are instances of the variety of method and 
opinion obtaining within the range of introspec- 
tive study. Contributions to the subject have 
been made by Watson, Royce, Leuba, Jastrow, 
Sabatier, Pfleiderer and a host of other living or 
recent scholars. 

The psychological method has yielded to reli- 
gious thought two results. These are, first, 
knowledge of the specific experience called reli- 
gious. Secondly, the interpretation of the cus- 
toms, beliefs, and documents of religion. 

The Higher Criticism is much besides psychol- 
ogy. It is history, archaeology, philology, eth- 
nology. But these are, or employ, psychology. 
The Higher Criticism is the understanding of 
literature by the guiding principle of a develop- 
ing mentality in ancient peoples analogous to the 
development within our own minds. Psychology 
has created the literature of comparative reli- 
gion. It has transformed the methods of the 
Christian missionary, and of the Christian church. 
It has given the element of social counterpoise to 
religion. It has illuminated the Bible, dispelled 
magic, explained mystery, justified miracle, and 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 299 

by revealing the nature of illusion saved the 
character while allowing for the relative intelli- 
gence of writers who chronicled the impossible. 

Perhaps the most acute problem arising out of 
the psychological movement is that of the epis- 
temological value of Mysticism. Neo-mysticism 
differs from its prototype in respect of its being 
concerned with particulars, which are appre- 
hended through the senses. And it regards its 
emotive elements as illuminants of the entire 
conscious field, whereas ancient mysticism in- 
volves the quietism of emotion, reason and the 
senses. As a type of religious experience, how- 
ever, the mystical must be treated separately 
from the sense-reason consciousness. And its 
truth-value is reckoned by sharply differing 
standards by the advocates of differing meta- 
physical opinions. The Neo-Kantians treat mys- 
tical states as merely subjective values, whose 
meanings are incapable of conceptual formula- 
tion. The Idealists, Ward, Royce, and Bosan- 
quet, incline to regard immediacy as nascent or 
poetic truth, which, however, depends upon 
rational validation for its value. 

For the Romanticists however, immediacy is 
the acme of consciousness. They differ as to 
whether to regard it primal or final, source or 
goal to the sense-reason type of consciousness. 



300 PROGRESS 

The pre-Kantian thinkers of this type conceived 
ideas arising out of unclear feelings, whose vague 
intimations were nearer to truth than the refine- 
ments of thought. Goethe shared this opinion. 
James' doctrine of the evolution of consciousness 
appears to combine the romanticist doctrine of a 
primal will with the Darwinian principle of vari- 
ation and struggle. In his earlier writings James 
evidently teaches the primacy of will to reason. 
In his later doctrine of mysticism he hints, how- 
ever, that a higher form of consciousness may 
develop beyond the sense-reason type, which be- 
comes goal, rather than source of it. While 
spontaneous in its origin, and rare as yet, the 
mystical type may become more and more com- 
mon as the race advances in religious devel- 
opment. 

Bergson regards immediacy, or instinct, as 
both source and goal of our thought. Unlike his 
forerunner, Rousseau, whose "back to nature" 
was a glorification of the primitive alone, Berg- 
son esteems instinct to be a "higher rationality" — 
an insight whose realization involves both culture 
and a specific act of rational self -resignation by 
force of will. 

By either view, the human may come immedi- 
ately into the presence of the divine. Approach- 
ing this opinion, Eucken regards religious 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 301 

experience as a fusion of reason and feeling to 
yield a state which is strictly neither. So, also 
Professor Hocking's conception of religious 
experience is that of a highly emotionalized ideal- 
ism. Royce also admits that the feelings may 
be pioneer to the reason, which, coming after, 
reduces the hazy apprehensions of the soul to 
clear consciousness.* 

PRAGMATISM 

It is the lack of definite knowledge concerning 
the truth-value of Mysticism that constitutes its 
charm as a philosophical problem. The solution 
involves both further observation and metaphys- 
ical interpretation. That is, its truth depends 
both upon the existence of powers of immediacy 
by the mind, and the existence of spiritual reality 
of nature such as to be thus apprehended. 

(3) Third among the tendencies to be here 
noted is that of Pragmatism. This movement 
professes a metaphysical attitude of entire hos- 
pitality, accounting the truth criterion to be 
subservient to, if it be not identical with, the 
test of instrumental or utilitarian efficiency. Its 
theory of being is, however, a blend of Roman- 
ticism and Darwinism. Its chief exponents have 
been William James and Professor John Dewey. 

* Royce, "Sources of Religious Insight," 1911. 



302 PROGRESS 

Pragmatism is romanticist, in that it conceives 
higher consciousness to be evolving from the 
primordial will. It is Darwinian, in that it holds 
the method of evolution to be by variation and 
struggle. The truth for each species, and to an 
extent for each varying individual, is an ideal 
construct. The test of truth, however, is success 
in the struggle for existence, or in the struggle 
for advancement toward a more satisfactory 
state of being. 

Accepting the idealistic theory that knowledge 
is a construct of the will, Pragmatism assumes 
an attitude of agnosticism, or of positivism, 
toward questions of ultimate reality. Since 
knowledge is purely relative to the type, or to the 
varying individual, a world-view comprehending 
a compulsive criterion of social or ideal character 
is impossible and impertinent. 

Three gains to religion from Pragmatism are 
urged by its advocates. First of these is its reso- 
lution of the antinomy between science and reli- 
gion. This, it accomplishes as did Kant, through 
its principle affirming the relativity of all knowl- 
edge. The conflict betwen religion and science 
"arises out of an effort to elevate their respective 
standpoints into ultimate, or metaphysical, points 
of view." If either assumes to regard itself an 
ideallv true account of the world as a whole, the 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 303 

like assumption by the opposing view is excluded. 
But if each interpretation be regarded as only 
relatively or pragmatically true, — that is, true 
because it satisfies a vital, but not necessarily per- 
manent and unchanging interest, — it is also pos- 
sible to find room in the same world for another 
truth-aspect of things to exist, interwoven, it 
may be, with the very phenomena that have 
yielded the knowledge of the opposite character. 
Precisely as a church building may be both a 
house of worship and a work of art, — each of 
which it is, not in itself, but to the respective 
users, — so the world is both mechanical and tele- 
ological, both amenable to cause, and the embodi- 
ment of purpose. 

But a second gain arises from the nature of 
the ends which Pragmatism proposes, as the 
tasks of religion. Absolute metaphysics postu- 
lates a sovereign Deity; and man's chief end is 
"to glorify God and enjoy him forever. " Prag- 
matism enters no denials as to the being of God. 
But it proffers such ends as will surely satisfy 
"whatever gods there be." Its positivism forbids 
it to speculate as to what can never be proven 
or known, — namely whether there be a Deity. 
It is free therefore to work upon causes, and 
toward ends that are practical, reliable, and 
plastic in its hands. The very nature of human 
20 



304 PROGRESS 

life forbids us to think that any one type of serv- 
ice or direction of progress can be always in 
accord with human need. The high values of life 
are themselves seeds of new and unexpected de- 
velopment. For the reason that a religious pro- 
gram offered primarily or ultimately to satisfy 
a reigning Lord, cannot be known in advance to 
provide for the fullest and most varied growth of 
the souls by which that program is supported, it 
follows that religion so conceived may in the end 
defeat itself. But the conception of religion as 
the service by man of man, in ways progres- 
sively discovered and devised by the growing con- 
sciousness of value in the culture of which the 
service is found fruitful, establishes for religion 
both an effective stimulus and a realizable ideal. 
The third gain is the attitude of toleration 
toward religious minds of all types, that sub- 
scribe themselves as being in accord with this 
aim of human betterment. Catholics and Protes- 
tants, Gentiles and Jews, Christians and Moham- 
medans might thus join together. Even Theists 
and Non-theists, — those who regard spiritual 
reality to be fundamentally one, or numerically 
many, — may thus labor in accord. Howison's 
"City of God," which is a republic of free souls; 
James' "Pluralistic Universe"; and the eternal 
world of free individuals contemplated in Ward's 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 305 

"Realm of Ends" may be by Pragmatism con- 
ceived as the true end of all religious endeavor, — 
a cause that intends and secures the religious 
development of mankind, without the aid of con- 
ventional or uniform beliefs. 

IDEALISM 

( 4 ) Lastly, the various shades of opinion that 
may be classified as Idealism, must be considered. 
Originating with the Kantian doctrine of the 
thing-in-itself, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel de- 
veloped the conception of Absolute Idealism. 
Discredited at length because of its denial of 
freedom and personality, modified forms of it 
have reappeared in the thought of John and 
Edward Caird, T. H. Greene, Bradley, Bosan- 
quet, Paulsen, Ward, and Royce. These have 
combined with the root principle of Hegel, ele- 
ments of romanticism and of evolutionistic 
empiricism. 

Modern idealism agrees with its ancient proto- 
type, the thought of Anaxagoras, Socrates and 
Plato, that the spirit of man is essentially one 
with the universal reason, or spirit. The world, 
and specifically the moral and religious expe- 
rience of humanity is a phase of the divine 
experience. Unlike ancient idealism however, 
ideas and deeds are not regarded as wholly inde- 



306 PROGRESS 

pendent creations of the divine will. They 
involve the participation of the partly enlight- 
ened intelligence and will of man. For the ideal, 
perfection is not claimed, as with Plato. The 
divine is not transcendent but immanent. The 
divine is not necessarily perfect, but growing, 
and incomplete. 

The world of experience as with Kant, is a 
construct. But it is not the arbitrary construct 
of static categories; it is rather the voluntary 
interpretation of a fluid consciousness, seeking its 
own and the perfect self-realization of others. 
The world of each individual is partly insular, 
partly suffused with that of others. Such ideas 
as have social value, are communicable. The 
stock of communicable ideas objectifies the 
community or the social consciousness. As indi- 
viduals approach to genuine insight their con- 
sciousness merges with, or becomes sanctioned 
by the common insight. Truth comes to mean 
then, what all minds would approve, were the 
judgments of individuals unified as they would 
be, if resolved into a single, universal, all-sided 
judgment. "What- would-be-true" to such a 
consciousness becomes the ideal criterion of truth 
and error. "What-would-be-good-and-right" by 
the same token becomes the ethical goal of every 
life that is able to conceive such an ideal. 



RECENT TENDENCIES IN PHILOSOPHY 307 

An idea — derived empirically from the fact 
that progress does actually yield such a growing 
consensus — gives rise to the ideal conception of 
an ultimately totally unified consciousness. This 
consciousness contains and consists of the total 
number of individual minds in the universe. 
Such a being is like any organism, more conscious 
in some parts than others; some functions are 
almost wholly means, while others approach the 
dignity of ends. Such an organism is both one, 
and many. It may well be a pluralistic universe. 

Religion with Hegel was just the self -con- 
sciousness of God, in man. It was the realization 
by man of himself as means to and participant 
in this larger joint self which is God. For the 
modern empirico-idealist, religion is the longing 
of the disjunct self for the perfection of such 
joint life as its will voluntarily conceives and 
desires. Few wills as yet, have the intelligence 
to perceive that the union of all conscious wills 
would be a benefit. But the ideal for such wills 
is the intelligence to so comprehend all life as 
to appreciate it. 

Empirico-idealism derives its romantic element 
chiefly through Schopenhauer. Being is will, 
and idea. Will is primal, idea is final. The 
creative source may well be an impulse, a blind 
tropism, a dynamic resurgence, an elan vital. 



308 PROGRESS 

But for Idealism, not instinct but a cosmic reason 
is the goal. 

The main tendencies within Idealism are ef- 
forts to escape Absolutism. Notable are the 
recent utterances of Bosanquet, Ward, Rashdall 
and Hocking. 

The evident value of certain elements in all 
these varying doctrines challenges the modern 
thinker to attempt their synchronism. A fusion 
is doubtless possible, such as both to satisfy the 
intelligence and to fortify the will in its efforts 
after the attitude that befits the truly religious 
soul. As with all precious interests, — love, art, 
truth, — religion is also a luminous mystery. 
Therein is its engaging and perplexing charm. 
Therein also resides its permanent power to 
develop the soul of man. So confesses the ancient 
canticle, — "as it was in the beginning, is now, and 
ever shall be" while knowledge remains partial 
and character incomplete. 

Willis A. Parker. 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF THE FINE ARTS 

'THE pleasure and the training produced by 
both the creation and enjoyment of the arts 
have important religious values, making us feel 
and act religiously. This is because the arts are 
universal and democratic in character and ap- 
peal, and because they persuade us to see life and 
its experiences as does the highest intelligence, 
as they will finally be constituted, and as they 
are already making for a universal and happy 
brotherhood of men. In the fine arts we feel 
that we have life presented with increasing sat- 
isfaction to the fatherly intelligence that orig- 
inated it and also to the human consciousness that 
must concretely live it. 

The arts have had and will still have many 
legitimate conflicts with the forms and formulas 
in which religion has expressed itself, and they 
bear within themselves many faulty social and 
philosophical views due to the fact that they are 
evolutions from the error-bearing, human, nat- 
ural side of our total experience. They must 
respect and cling to the principles of their own 
natures and not become mere servants of religion. 
On the other hand it is ever clearer that they 
naturally support and cooperate with those 

309 



310 PROGRESS 

feelings and convictions concerning the unity and 
the religious meaning of the world and of expe- 
rience, which come from all our fields of thinking 
and behavior. The instinct, therefore, of many 
religious persons to demand beforehand that the 
cultural products of the arts be dogmatically and 
pedagogically religious is an error ; only in inde- 
pendence and voluntary cooperation can these 
results have their best religious values. 

Some of these values may be stated separately. 

THE EREE SPIRIT 

(1) In the free and flexible instruments and 
media of expression — both for records and for 
thinking and teaching — in the fine arts there is 
great religious value. There seems to be an in- 
evitable tendency in religious matters toward 
fixity of statements of belief, toward formulas 
and rituals for the sake of teaching and public 
worship. The help given in discussion and 
propaganda by dependable regularity of phras- 
ing is undoubted; but its trend toward linguistic 
Pharasaism is equally certain. Even the free 
and figurative language of our ancient Scrip- 
tures is abused and misconceived just because so 
much revered and used for orderly teaching. 
The most absolute law of a fine art is that its 
medium of expression must be free, flexible, per- 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 311 

sonal, bending to every phase of thought and feel- 
ing, avoiding repetition and reminiscence of 
other artists. It must have many phrases for 
facets of the same idea; it must play about its 
subject, and be suggestive rather than attempt 
exhaustiveness. The artist feels that thus he 
more nearly expresses the exhaustless particular- 
ity of the world, whose laws are evermore less 
obvious than its phenomena. Here one must 
move, and move rapidly; each step has suffi- 
ciently firm footing for the instant, but one must 
not stand. Words in great literature have 
meaning, — but for the moment, the context, the 
mood. To fix and limit the language of feeling, 
is at once to inhibit its growth; here too the 
"letter killeth." 

In artistic expression too, is the phenomenon 
of figurative expression, stating things not for 
themselves (that is impossible) but in com- 
parison, association, allusion, so that we convey 
what is not clear and make forcible what is weak 
or commonplace. It seems impossible to teach 
spiritual fact or feeling "without parables." 

It follows from all this that minds accustomed 
to the method of the fine arts have a training in 
the use of instruments of record and communica- 
tion which renders them free, delicate, supple, 
individual, and so more ready to receive and 



312 PROGRESS 

enjoy the language of the Deity spoken to us in 
the infinite variety of the world, human con- 
sciousness, and history. 

THE STIRRING OF IMAGINATION 

(2) After the first contact of our minds with 
the elevating media of expression in the arts, — 
their language, forms, colors, atmospheres, — the 
next thing which normally occurs is the stirring 
of our imaginations. At once come vivid pictures 
of men and things, forming living images, pre- 
sentations of objects as if they were directly 
before our senses. We see the invisible, the far- 
away, the dimly-apprehended. We are in the 
scene, and take part in the activity portrayed. 
Our own memory images are aroused again, but 
are enlarged and refined by the expert and vivid 
pictures of the artist. Hamlet or Penelope are 
as actual to us as are our daily companions. We 
actually sit by 

" — magic casements, 
Opening on the foam of perilous seas 
In fairy lands forlorn." 

We thus, just by concrete imagery, get away 
from the prepossession with our homely sur- 
roundings so often ugly and unhelpful, and we 
can at will choose and enjoy a whole universe of 
beautiful objects and noble people. 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 313 

In the fine arts too we find the marvels of 
the imaginative creation of new and wonderful 
wholes. Entire new landscapes are given with 
sky and air such as we can seldom see; new 
characters of men are created out of the scattered 
elements we know well but never saw gathered 
together before ; vivid social situations and expe- 
riences are outlined for us, embodying and sum- 
marizing mental histories which we know only in 
part. In great art these creations do not break 
with or deny our daily experiences, forming for 
us an alien, artificial world; but they do enlarge 
and cultivate these experiences. Here we see 
life as it may or ought to be ; here are visions for 
our hopes and aspirations, the gift of "something 
evermore about to be." 

Now this freeing and enriching of the imagi- 
nation has great religious value, enabling us "to 
endure as seeing him that is invisible," making 
real and tangible our best dreams and hopes, and, 
like the hypothesis of scientific experiment, con- 
stituting in our minds for choice or for criticism 
things we long to possess. Men are led in their 
social activities rather by their imaginations than 
by their judgments. Happy those who have 
been taught to see and hear and feel the best the 
human faculties have been able to conceive. In 
art we see great dreams, noble ideas actually at 



314 PROGRESS 

work, creating pictures of what might be. Con- 
vincing help always comes to the possessor of an 
ideal by seeing it concretely tried out. As 
Browning taught us, in art we see for the first 
time the things we have longed to see but could 
not. Take Shakespeare's "The Tempest" as a 
living example of what our world would be had 
our leaders a combination of knowledge, prac- 
tical power, and benevolence. "The Tempest" 
thus shows to us the ideal man of the future actu- 
ally at work. 

Incidentally, the best help for understanding 
and not abusing the highly picturesque and 
figurative language of our Scriptures lies in the 
discipline coming from the same kinds of ex- 
pression found in our secular literature. 

MOVEMENT AND COMPOSURE 

(3) The fine arts give us a constant alterna- 
tion and interrelation of activity and rest, of 
brilliant, vivid, changing realities, and of summa- 
tion, grouping, attainment, solution. Here are 
the brilliant analyses, separate facts, marching 
and flying notes, followed by the soul-satisfying 
cadences and the sustained harmonies of great 
music ; here are the individual facts and emotions 
of a poet's materials brought to a logical and rest- 
ful conclusion; here are the spirited activities of 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 315 

the early parts of a great play, calling us to sym- 
pathetic realization of life's vivid tangled ways, 
and here also the pathetic rest of tragic endings 
or the sunny solutions of comedy and romance. 
Now purely religious literature has too often 
given us pictures of rest without activity. It 
does this to satisfy troubled and discouraged 
minds, sick from too much experience. But the 
normal mind cannot be satisfied for long with 
images of stationary Edens and paradises. It 
demands also an active, propulsive world in which 
to live. In art the two elements are combined. 
We get equally the intoxication of the open rest- 
less ocean, and the composure of the "sailor home 
from the sea," the bird alternating its eager 
search for food and love with quiet brooding over 
its nest ; the soul of man reaching out and labor- 
ing and longing, yet enjoying as well the results 
of labor, the moments of pleasure, the heavens of 
complete satisfaction. Actual living itself is too 
restless and unsatisfying; religion too often 
passive and lifeless, a changeless perfection; in 
the arts the two needs of the mind are vitally met 
because for success neither element can be absent. 

REFINED PLEASURE 

(4) In nothing has art more to contribute to 
religion than the gift of refined pleasure, of 



316 PROGRESS 

activity of the natural functions which leaves no 
regrets. Religion has always been afraid of 
natural pleasure; it has found it associated with 
indulgence, with luxury, with excess, all opposed 
to control and service, and to the welfare of the 
future. It identifies pleasure with activity of the 
senses, with personal selfishness, with lawlessness. 

Yet it is clear that the demand for pleasure as 
the measure of successful living is all but uni- 
versal; it is mankind's normal test of the worth 
of activity, and when wholesome is cultivating as 
well as satisfying. The problem is to produce a 
pleasure which is normal, which does not de- 
bilitate, which is carefully considerate of the 
organs and functions that produce it, and which 
is pursued not for itself alone. 

Now it is the immediate aim of all the fine arts 
to give the mind pleasure, even when record or 
teaching is most pronounced. The harmonies 
and melodies of music; the pictures and "arrange- 
ments" of painting; the rhythms, images, unities, 
of poetry; the groupings, masses, outlines of 
architectures, — all must produce pleasure first. 
But here are refined pleasures ; they do not leave 
the mind limp or sick; nor are they followed by 
collapse or satiety; they can be shared by others 
and are never selfish. 

Religious teaching and activity, with their 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 517 

emphasis upon discipline and self-control, with 
their concernment about recovery from sin, with 
their heroes and examples far away in time and 
space, with their anxiety about the distant fu- 
ture, are not usually immediate bringers of joy; 
their formulas, scriptures, and rituals do not 
produce pleasure at once or uniformly. Yet all 
teach that righteousness should be joyous and 
faith in God an endless happiness. 

Art can be a compaion to religion in habituat- 
ing the mind to pleasure without sin, when — 

"Love is an unceasing light, 
And joy its own security." 

GREAT PERSONALITIES 

(5) Art criticism uniformly begins by in- 
quiring into the personality of the artist. We 
must know his history, his environment, his point 
of view. Even when most objective and repro- 
ductive, art is not photography or colorless imi- 
tation. It is the result of the intense reactions 
of important personalities. The artist chooses 
his material, transforms it here, emphasizes it 
there, making it the medium of his own ideas. 
In this his work differs radically from science, 
wherein the personality of the worker is an 
illegitimate intrusion. 

Art emphasizes the gift to mankind of these 



318 PROGRESS 

great personalities, men born with unusual quan- 
tities or delicacies of spiritual powers, — poets, 
prophets, seers of visions. Such men are excep- 
tionally sensitive to all experience, widely sym- 
pathetic, nobly imaginative. They have the 
instinct to remake life as well as to understand it, 
and they can hold more of life together in a 
harmonious view than can common men. Art 
provides for them an infinitely flexible as well as 
comprehensive medium of expression. They 
seem easily to see life sub specie aeternitatis. 

Their work gives us, too, concrete accounts of 
intense, intimate, personal experiences in the 
realm of feeling and conduct. To use the current 
mode of phrasing of great artists, we get their 
personal "impressions" of life and things. With 
all its weakness, its opposition to our enthusiasm 
for law and uniformity, this doctrine of impres- 
sionism keeps alive both for philosophy and taste 
the work of great single persons. And in them 
the rest of us find life functioning more beauti- 
fully and completely. They are thus "friends 
and teachers of mankind." 

Now this work and material seems to help 
correct the ecclesiastical instinct in religious life 
toward creeds and formulas and the needs of 
church rituals for fixed repetitious materials. A 
hymn must not be very personal, else it cannot 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 319 

be used by many individuals ; a poem on the same 
theme and in the same form cultivates this very 
individuality. It is hard to glean from the 
Scriptures intimate and continuous histories of 
personal experiences corresponding to or enrich- 
ing our own. The immortal seed is there ; but the 
full grown tree often is not, and the fruit not just 
such as we can reproduce or enjoy. 

Now the training of personality thus produced 
by the fine arts has great value for religion in 
causing the universe to seem the work and abiding 
place of personal intelligence, a point of view 
hard to keep bright in days of mechanistic 
philosophy. Without it, religion would seem to 
be but a most temporary labor of helping to 
police society, or offering comfort to the unintel- 
ligent. With it we are truly living because God 
lives in us. 

THE WORLD ESSENTIALLY SPIRITUAL 

(6) An idealizing and religious value comes 
from the world of art in that it does and must 
present the essential spirituality of the visible 
universe — to use a phrase from Wordsworth; 
and equally that experience is spiritual in being 
at its best (and it is here it is to be tested) emo- 
tional, voluntary, and self-conscious. There 

could be no poetry written about a merely me- 
21 



•* 



320 PROGRESS 

chanical world, nor of human experience which 
is mechanical and fated. If the world is a 
mechanism only, the human response to it would 
be a mechanical acceptance wherein both admira- 
tion and pathos would be absurd. 

No, art must view the natural world as alive 
with intelligence and with some purpose, even if 
this be never correctly comprehended. It must 
also see human behavior working under the prin- 
ciples of choice and responsibility, and of sure 
ideals which make the next things to be done 
have some meaning and beauty to the doer. 

Matthew Arnold pointed out the tendency in 
all religions to drug their very natures by fixing 
the ideas of the moment in notable forms and 
then coming to care only for the forms, — so 
much, finally, as to destroy the ideas. In poetry, 
on the other hand, the idea is everything; it must 
be ceaselessly criticized, kept alive, allowed new 
garments. Here there can be no fixity of form, 
no unspiritual mechanics. So all the arts, in 
spite of their inevitable concernment for form 
and the media of expression, are first and last 
concerned with the ideas they are expressing, 
with spiritual experiences. 

Our arts thus correct the too frequent philos- 
ophy of the religious consciousness, especially of 
the far past whence our Scriptures are drawn, 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 321 

to present both nature and organized society as a 
lost "world," dead and loveless. It should con- 
tribute much to the modern religious conscious- 
ness to find that in the arts the physical world of 
earth and sky, of plant and animal, of light and 
darkness, all glow with life and beauty. 

"A sense sublime 
Of something far more deeply interfused, 
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 
And the round ocean and the living air, 
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man." 

And not even revolt or despair can prevent the 
spirit of art from seeing human life and society 
as a world of free spirits pursuing ends that to 
them are ideal, constantly approaching the reali- 
zation of dreams of beauty and goodness. 

CHANGE AND PROGRESS 

(7) If the universe is a living organism and 
human life has meaning because a part of a 
living whole, then change has meaning since it 
implies growth. In all the arts we are ever aware 
of a passion for the new. There is wide room 
in art for keeping alive old beauty, and Homer 
re-lives in Kipling; so there is for permanent and 
static beauty and classical art loves to keep alive 
"the glory that was Greece." This art and this 
beauty have religious value, pleasing our passion 



322 PROGRESS 

to grasp goodness in our hand and "keep it 
changeless evermore." But more widely, more 
instinctively, appears in art the love of the new 
and evolving beauty. Here is emphasized the 
originating activities of great persons, here the 
elements of wonder and surprise. 

"New islands there must be, 
In the sea of life and destiny." 

We may allow that there will be much restless 
artificiality here, desire for change without per- 
ception of any good reason for it or any goal to 
be won, experiments ill-conceived or languidly 
followed, abundance of affectation, and ever pre- 
tense of newness. But with all its errors, art in 
this characteristic fosters the perception of an 
evolving universe. In this the arts instinctively 
criticize that aspect of religion which is pleased 
with the idea of an unchanging universe, finished, 
or at least once finished. Religion has too fre- 
quently taught that God is an ever-living but not 
a growing personality. The fine arts, on the 
contrary, especially since they have assumed the 
function of cooperation with and not subservience 
to religion, have unceasingly delighted in more 
highly organized, enriched, evolved phenomena — 
in descriptions and social institutions having all 
manner of men and their ways, in elaborate 
orchestras with new instruments and more com- 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 323 

plicated harmonies, in plays that combine all the 
arts into new wholes, in education based on new 
materials from ever widening fields. The artists 
see no place for stopping, no fixed ends, no final 
satisfaction. They work with the feeling that 
life is infinite in its variety, though equally so in 
its present possible harmonious combinations, 
and in its long future. This surely contributes 
at once to the religious interpretation of the 
world and of its Creator. 

THE SENSE OF BEAUTY 

(8) While the ancient distinction and contrast 
between truth, goodness, and beauty are now 
obsolescent and mischievous because they obscure 
the unity of things and their phenomena, yet for 
religious valuing and interpretation art has a 
distinct service to perform in especially cultivat- 
ing the sense of beauty. Its first instinct and 
aim is to find objects of distinct, concrete beauty; 
or it proceeds to arrange the elements it finds so as 
to bring out lovely designs and patterns; it 
adorns its structures with beautiful ornamenta- 
tions and secondary qualities. It gives to strong 
things grace and skill; it would make land and 
sky, houses and the things we live with, speech 
and gesture, our loves and friendships, even our 
suffering ; make all, however true in actuality or 



324 PROGRESS 

the observance of law, however kindly and serv- 
iceable, satisfy first the hearts demand for 
beauty. 

Now religion, especially as applied to the facts 
of social living, has so much handling of sin, of 
error and breakdown, showing them always as 
ugly and destructive, that beauty is most often 
lacking in its lessons and stories. The serious 
matter of both our Testaments shows chiefly this 
life-and- death struggle between righteousness 
and sin. Goodness triumphs, but it is not lovely. 
There are few situations in either revelation in 
which life is shown as normal, or the story ideal 
throughout. Now art is responsible, like the other 
spiritual disciplines, for the discovery and eluci- 
dation of truth and morality ; but it does so rather 
by showing them as concretely beautiful than by 
portraying their negations as ugly. No great 
art stops with pictures of ugly reality, even 
though it be professedly realistic. On the con- 
trary, even when working with unwholesome 
materials — for it must start with the materials 
of life as given, — it is always trying to find "the 
soul of goodness in things evil," to bring harmony 
out of discords, to get at the character and spirit 
of the homeliest "sitter," to discipline violent 
strength with law and measure. 



RELIGIOUS VALUES OF FINE ARTS 325 

Beauty is the name we give to the mind's feel- 
ings that its objects of contemplation are so far 
perfect or growing toward perfection. A work 
of art therefore can be dwelt upon indefinitely, 
can be frequently returned to and reproduced. 
The young and the normal-hearted can lay it 
on the table and study it, build their lives upon 
it; its pictures become a daily, permanent pos- 
session of the mind. 

Thus the fine arts have again fine religious 
values in helping to constitute the view that the 
entire universe is the product and home of a 
skillfully working, ideal-building intelligence. 

THE LARGER SYMPATHY 

(9) A final religious value of the fine arts 
consists in their creating a living sympathy be- 
tween man and man. It is here we have the last 
step in a rational doctrine of man's creation and 
the instrument for making life completely a 
religious thing. A perfected human society will 
not be characterized so much by self-sacrifice for 
others, denying one's own life to promote an- 
other's, as by mutual understanding and fellow- 
feeling, by justice, and by skillful adjustment 
of all men to the things they should do and know. 
In this stage of society the arts will have the 



S26 PROGRESS 

most constant service to perform — since it will 
be a problem not so much of what we should feel 
and do, as of how we can do it. 

Now sympathy arises in concrete contact with 
human situations; it does not come in general or 
by act of the will. Art has just this gift of 
presenting definite vivid pictures and situations. 
Here we see ourselves as others do, or in their 
places ; by its aids our imaginations live over the 
actual experiences portrayed; we realize situa- 
tions and possibilities. Our admiration is stirred, 
our pity too; touches of "nature" have made the 
whole world kin. Courage and skill arouse our 
wonder ; unideal things which are curable and do 
not destroy, make us smile, and error and in- 
ability make us tender and helpful. But all must 
be made as concrete and vivid as our own expe- 
riences before sympathy can have full sway. 

If the worlds of human consciousness and 
society were working as they should ideally do, 
there might (at least on the surface) seem less 
work for the professional teachers of religion; 
there would be more service for the artists who 
would be constantly engaged in keeping us 
aware of what God intended the world to be by 
showing us what it actually is. 

Walter D. MacClintock. 



LITERARY PROGRESS AMONG THE 
DISCIPLES 

[It was not to be expected that such a religious movement 
as that of the Disciples should at once express itself in the field 
of pure literature. Literature is a reflection upon life with the 
conscious intention of enhancing its beauty and worth through 
artistic treatment of its materials. A new and lusty movement 
such as this would of necessity use up its major strength in 
performing the specific and urgent tasks which called it into 
being.. The young men and women out of Disciple homes who 
enjoyed the advantages of literary culture would be inclined, in 
so far as they had genuine religious interest, to devote their talents 
to the most direct and obvious means by which practical serv- 
ice could be rendered in the movement. Accordingly, until within 
comparatively recent years there have been practically no works 
of pure literature produced among us. We have not been a 
literary people. Where have been our essayists, our novelists, 
our historians and our poets? Who of our number has won gen- 
eral recognition in the world of letters? 

But at last voices are being heard among us which carry far 
beyond our own household — even unto all the world. Some of our 
ministers have published volumes of essays, sermons, and treatises 
of scientific nature which rank with the best produced else- 
where. We have at least five novelists who are among the most 
successful of the times as judged by the popular appeal of their 
stories. The poetic renascence of the most recent years, which 
is the most remarkable literary phenomenon of the times, sees 
the Disciples represented by one of the leading names among 
American singers. Mr. Vachel Lindsay of Springfield, Illinois, 
has been reared a Disciple of the Disciples, and the deep religious 
note which is heard in so much of his poetry comes out of the 
most vital phases of the movement. Mr. Lindsay is a member 
of the Campbell Institute and with his consent we are here 
offering one of his poems. When we remember the activities 
of Alexander Campbell as agriculturist and preacher, and when 

327 



328 PROGRESS 

we think of the rural character of our movement as a whole dur- 
ing its greater part, this poem seems appropriate to this volume. 
Of how many honored men in our ministry might these stanzas 
have been written? — The Editors.] 



The Proud Farmer 

[In memory of E. S. F razee, Rush County, Indiana.] 

TNTO the acres of the newborn state 

A He poured his strength, and plowed his ancient 

name, 
And, when the traders followed him, he stood 
Towering above their furtive souls and tame. 

That brow without a stain, that fearless eye 
Oft left the passing stranger wondering 
To find such knighthood in the sprawling land, 
To see a democrat well-nigh a king. 

He lived with liberal hand, with guests from far, 
With talk and joke and fellowship to spare, — 
Watching the wide world's life from sun to sun, 
Lining his walls with books from everywhere. 

He read by night, he built his world by day. 
The farm and house of God to him were one. 
For forty years he preached and plowed and 

wrought — 
A statesman in the fields, who bent to none. 



\ 



THE PROUD FARMER 329 

His plowmen — neighbors were as lords to him. 
His was an ironside, democratic pride. 
He served a rigid Christ, but served him well — 
And, for a lifetime, saved the countryside. 

Here lie the dead, who gave the church their best 

Under his fiery preaching of the word. 

They sleep with him beneath the ragged 

, grass. . . . 
The village withers, by his voice unstirred. 

And tho' his tribe be scattered to the wind 
From the Atlantic to the China sea, 
Yet do they think of that bright lamp he burned 
Of family worth and proud integrity. 

And many a sturdy grandchild hears his name 
In reverence spoken, till he feels akin 
To all the lion-eyed who built the world — 
And lion-dreams begin to burn within. 

Vachel Lindsay. 



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